


Ashes to Ashes

by Aurum262



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Post-Destroy Ending, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2017-12-29 07:48:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 42,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurum262/pseuds/Aurum262
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story about Shepard and co during the post-Reaper War galaxy. I plan to further explore Shepard's backstory as well as telling a new story in the ME-verse full of old and new faces. I play a bit fast and loose with the canon in places but stick as closely to it as the story will let me. I apologize to the Jane Shepard purists but Gwen is, and always will be, my Shepard. This is going to be a long story and the story title as well as chapter titles are prone to change at my whim so, if you like what you read, be sure to bookmark me. Chapter length will be wildly inconsistent so if that bothers you, I do apologize. I'll try to update at least every week but I can make no promises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: In The Beginning

The Reapers weren't an hour dead and already the vultures had emerged to pick the flesh off the bones of the dead. The two turian scavengers were decked out in enviro-suits to protect them from the dissipation of the atmosphere of the Citadel. They had pushed their way deep into the heart of the Presidium on hearing rumors of massive bounties on the bodies of certain VIP's who had last been seen in that area. So far, they had seen... not bodies so much as piles of meat. They emerged from a particularly foul tunnel to be confronted by a wall of rubble. They carefully picked their way around the pile and, on reaching the other side, saw another pile of rubble. This one, however, had a human N7 breastplate partially obscured. They approached the pile and the sharper eyed of the two noted the ID tags, rendered completely illegible, hanging around a pale neck. They were just beginning to shift the rubble away when the breastplate heaved.

"Holy shit, we've got a live one!" one of the turians exclaimed.

"Figure that one out on your own?" his companion asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come on, I hear the pay's higher for live ones."

They excavated the human and grimaced. She, it was a female, clearly had top-shelf augmentations. That was the only conceivable way that she could have survived with such gruesome injuries. She had several wounds, mostly sealed by medigel on her chest and her legs had been shredded almost up to the torso. The right arm looked to have been severed cleanly below the shoulder and the left... it was still attached. That did nothing to change the fact that it was burned to the bone and would be removed as soon as the human got to a medical facility. Her head, however. Was intact. Some deep cuts that would leave impressive scars but the skull and its precious cargo seemed relatively undamaged.

"C'mon. Lets get her to the shuttle bay while we can collect the creds for a live one."

"Yeah. Better hurry, though." 

The pair set up a medical stasis field generator which, though it likely wouldn't do the human any good, would help their prospect for collecting a rescue bounty rather than a delivery of remains one.  
* * * *

"Are you sure this is the place?" Alliance Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams asked, skirting a pile of mutilated bodies.

"She's here. She has to be." Dr. Liara T'Soni said in a tone which suggested that the reply was more for her own benefit than the soldier's.

"We're getting a strong signal from her omnitool. We don't know what kind of state she might be in, too much interference. But we know shes here." a technician who was part of the impressively large SAR team that had been sent to search for Commander Shepard said.

They crested a hill of rubble and saw two bodies lying close to each other.

"Admiral Anderson." Ashley whispered, quietly.

"And the Illusive Man." Liara added.

The remains were loaded into body bags and carried back to the shuttle. The man who had the dubious honor of carrying the Illusive Man's head only dropped it once.

The rest of them began sweeping the area, searching for some hint of what had saved all organic life in the Galaxy. Liara and Ashley only had one goal in mind, though. They zeroed in on the signal from Shepard's omnitool and began digging. With Liara's grief-fueled biotics, even the largest chunks of masonry shifted effortlessly until, finally, they uncovered a gauntleted hand, then a forearm, an upper arm, then...nothing. The two of them just sat, staring at the severed arm for an eternity. First Liara than Ashley succumbed to the tears which they had been restraining since they had heard the Commander Shepard was missing in action.

They continued to sweep the area until all the rubble had been cleared. They found no sign of the rest of the Commander except some very long streaks of blood and splintered bone which matched her genetic profile. Then, with nothing else to do, the SAR team packed up and returned to the Normandy.  
* * * *  
The two turians were carting the body through the chaos of the human city of Rio de Janeiro. The Reapers had, apparently unconcerned about masses of refugees which could be exterminated after more immediate threats were dealt with, had left the Wards largely untouched. There, the surviving members of the Council had been found along with many members of C-Sec. The Council had been shuffled off to their quarters on the Destiny Ascension and C-Sec was helping to manage the flow of evacuees from the unstable Citadel. The Turian pair had managed to get a shuttle to a pad relatively near the field hospital which had been set up. They dropped off their cargo and been shooed off the where they could collect their reward.

The patient would have been surrounded by a team of highly trained trauma surgeons under normal conditions. These, however, were anything but. The single surgeon with an automated anesthesiologist popped the fail-safe seals on the armor and, carefully, began to remove it. There were no places where the armor had fused to the skin so there was that, at least, to be grateful for. The surgeon cleaned up the stumps where the legs had been, removed the salvageable left arm and dressed the right.

"Four out of four, shit. At least you're still alive, though. You're probably lucky, all things considered. We'll get you some nice shiny prosthesis soon." the doctor said.

Her patient, still unconscious, didn't respond. She sealed the now truncated human in a stasis pod, marked it with the time, date, and prosthesis required and went to attend to other patients.  
* * * *  
The prosthetologist was just coming on shift when he drew a four-limb fitting on an unidentified human female. He took a brief look at the chart and began to work. He programed the pod to take precise measurements and scan for non-superficial damage and begin drawing up schematics for the necessary replacements and augmentations to damaged tissue. He whistled while he worked, he had just received approval to use Reaper husk technology to create bio-synthetic prosthesis which would be cheaper, easier to acclimate to, faster, and all around better and he was eager to try it out on this first patient.

Better and better, the readout showed spinal trauma and organ damage. Whoever this person was, she would be getting a complete overhaul. The doctor didn't even mentally complain about the lack of orderlies as he wheeled the pod into the operating theater. The machine which was churning out the prosthetic body parts was one of the ugliest pieces of equipment the doctor had ever worked with. It was basically a Reaper conversion pod which had been salvaged from the Cerberus base on Horizon and hacked onto a mechanical surgeon over the last week. All the signs indicted that it would work beautifully. He carefully positioned the patient and fed the necessary information into the machine. 

It sprang to life, immediately. Scalpels on the ends of reticulated arms flashed making inhumanly precise cuts, spraying organs with nanite-infested saline which coated the organs and began to form green-glowing circuit-like patterns, and sewing the incisions back shut. Two needles positioned themselves on either side of the patient's head before plunging into her temples. They then filled her brain cavity with more nanites which began to form computer circuits directly interfaced into her brain. The needles withdrew and the patient was turned onto her back. The spine was laid bare, coated with still more nanites which would replace the calcium in the vertebrae with far harder ceramics and support struts, which would help support the prosthesis which were far heavier than organic tissue, were inserted.

Finally, the jet black prosthetic limbs were maneuvered into place and attached. As organic blood flowed through the limbs, the nanites began to do their work. soon, the seams were flawless. The final touch was the manual interface packet which were attached to the face so they lay across the eyebrows, around the outsides of the eye sockets and down across the cheekbones.

When the whole process was finished, several hours later, the doctor wheeled the patient to out-processing. He glanced at the soldier ID tags, and, seeing that they were completely illegible, returned them to the file. He then took another, last look at the miracle which he had overseen and allowed himself a moment to reflect with satisfaction on how the Reapers, defeated not 24 hours ago, were being put to work undoing the damage they had done.  
* * * *  
Kelly Chambers was wandering the patient outprocessing ward of the hospital in Rio where she had been sent by the team which had evacuated the Citadel. She was looking in on soldiers who might need someone to talk to. She passed a room with a patient who was being restrained by a pair of bulky turians, past another who seemed unconscious or asleep and then stopped dead. The patient in the next room had one of the control devices for the new implants fused to her face, had several fresh scars, and the arms resting on her coverlet were matte black but there was no mistaking that heart-shaped face, the alabaster skin, or the hair as dark as intergalactic space. She knew that under the closed eyelids were the forest green eyes of Commander Shepard. She opened the door, walked in, sat next to the bed and, ever so gently, laid a hand on the newly grown/made shoulder.

"Commander, can you hear me?" she asked.

The Commander didn't reply. Kelly though for a moment then sprung up and bolted for the nearest public extranet terminal. The called up her omnitool and consulted one of her reports to the Illusive Man. She opened an instant messaging program and entered the personal account name of Hannah Shepard. She quickly typed out a message, sent it, and began to wait. It was a long time before she got a reply and when it arrived, it was short, simply "On the way".

She returned to the room, to the bedside seat, and waited for Commander Shepard to stir. But she didn't. She just lay on the bed, her chest rising and falling slowly. Nurses came and went more frequently after Kelly informed them of their patient's identity and she interrogated them about her condition whenever they passed. They all told her that she was comatose but stable and the there was no way to tell when she'd wake.  
* * * *  
Damian Shepard sat in the shuttle which was bound for the hospital in Rio where a message from one of Gwen's former crew members said his daughter was under treatment. He nervously fiddled with the sheet which covered his legs, or rather, his lack thereof. A batarian antipersonnel mine had taken them off. Due to the boredom which had resulted from his being wheelchair bound, Gwen, who the galaxy knew as Commander Shepard, had been conceived. 

He had stood... well, sat, by his wife, Hannah's side throughout the War with the Reapers. But now his little girl had killed them and she was still alive. It was an almost surreal thought, that one person could save so many without giving up her own life. He was pleased but the magnitude of the thought was too much for him to grasp immediately.

"Sir," the shuttle pilot said "we're here."

Damian wheeled his chair out into the hot, humid Brazilian evening. At the sight of Cristo Redentor, he bowed his head and whispered a quick prayer of thanks that the War was over and the two women he loved had survived. When he finished, he crossed himself and continued towards the hospital.

When he finally wheeled into the room, his heart nearly stopped. To know Gwen was alive was one thing but to see her, breathing, was another. It was a long while before he even noticed the blonde woman slumped, asleep, in a chair in the corner. He gently shook her awake. She awoke with a start and he wheeled back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm Gwen's father, Damian. I assume that you are Kelly Chambers?" he said.

"Err, yes. Please, call me Felicia, if you don't mind."

Damian raised an eyebrow but shrugged in acceptance. "Has she moved?" he asked.

"Not an inch, at least, not when I was awake."

He rubbed his brow and took one of Gwen's hands in his own. The replica didn't have the dry, scaly feel of the husk skin it was derived from; no, the size, shape, and feel of the hand was perfect. Long, slender, and silky smooth. A little harder than her original hands had been, but that was small enough a price to pay.

"Gwen, sweetheart. Do you hear me?" he asked.

She didn't reply but he could have sworn that the hand twitched and tightened slightly.

He placed the hand back on the coverlet and, with nothing better to do, chatted with Kelly. He told her that the Normandy had been notified of Gwen's location, they shared stories about Gwen's time with Cerberus and her childhood, and talked about just about anything except the nightmarish war which had just ended.

Eventually, Kelly drifted back off to sleep leaving Damian to keep vigil over his daughter. It was several hours later that Gwen began to stir. Damian was instantly at her side. She tossed and turned for about a minute before her eyes slowly fluttered open. As she focused on her father's face, a lopsided grin slowly spread across her face. 

"Hey, Dad." she said, voice raspy from disuse. "Did we win?"

"Yes, sweetie. You won."

"Hey dad, this may be weird but why can I hear Geth?"

"How do you mean?" He asked but she had faded back to sleep.  
* * * *  
Gwen hadn't awoken again but the hospital needed the bed so she was loaded onto a stretcher and carried to the shuttle which had brought Damian down from the Orizaba. No sooner had they reached the Orizaba's shuttle bay and popped the seals on the shuttle than an asari was by Gwen's side, covering her face with kisses and tears. Damian remembered her from when Gwen had brought her to the family Christmas Party shortly before she... left for two years.

"Liara? You mind letting my daughter breathe?" he asked, smirking.

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry. Has she woken up?" she asked, not moving from Gwen's side.

"Briefly, yes. She was pretty out of it, said something about hearing Geth."

"Geth? Why?"

"I couldn't say. There weren't any nearby, we were in a hospital. No reason for Geth to be there."

"I said it because I could hear them. Hey, sweetie. Good to see you're okay." Gwen said.

The witnesses jumped.

"Shepard!" Liara yelled before diving in for more tears and kisses.

After enjoying the contact for a few moments, Gwen broke off the kiss.

"Soooo. Does someone want to tell me what the hell happened with the... you know... the thing."

"The Crucible?" Liara supplied.

"Yeah, that's the one. With the kid and all. That was weird."

Liara and Damian looked at each other, then back at Gwen.

"What kid?" Damian asked.

"I don't know. Some weird Reaper thing, I think. Eh, not important. Reapers?"

"Dead. So are a lot of others but everyone's still got a breeding population. Most of the Citadel's inhabitants made it off alive, the Council's still around, so is Captain Bailey. Samara is MIA and so is Zaeed. EDI... didn't make it. Too much Reaper tech, whatever killed them targeted her as well. Joker's not taking it well." Liara said.

"I bet. Hey, the last thing I remember before blacking out is a whole lot of rubble coming down on me. Anyone mind telling me why I'm not chatting up St. Peter right now?"

"As near as we can tell, a couple of vultures found you and a mad scientist rigged you up with all sorts of prosthesis. You weren't in good shape. You got a lot of new tech packed into you, spit and polish on the old stuff as well."

For the first time, Gwen tried to move. She pushed herself up onto an elbow and looked at the uncovered parts of her body. "Well... shit." she said.

She stood, rose, stretched, and said "Okay, well. I guess I can get used to this. What do you think?" She asked Liara who had risen with her.

"I'm just glad you're alive." she said.

"Well, I guess that settles it. I'm keeping them."

"Like you had soooo much choice in the matter." Damian said, grinning.


	2. Three Years Later

Gwen hadn't been one of those soldiers who looked down on reservists or other "weekend warriors" which was good because she had been one for the last two years. She had never been one to stockpile leave and she only had 13 years of service under her belt so she couldn't retire. Sure she had saved the galaxy three times in spectacular fashion, had become the first soldier to receive multiple Medals of Honor, and had received equally lofty medals from every species in the Galaxy, but the Navy said 20 years before retirement with benefits and dammit the Navy gets what the Navy wants. She didn't mind, though. She never could have left the Alliance life behind her. Just as Liara hadn't passed on the mantle of Shadow Broker, she would die an Alliance Marine. Gwen surveyed the idyllic panorama visible from her front porch. She and Liara had settled in the Azra Valley on Thessia. Their house overlooked a dense jungle which lit up at night with a rainbow of bioluminescence from the Thessian flora and fauna. A group of element zero rich rocks hovered over the valley which, according to Liara, housed some of the oldest temples on Illium.

Gwen's introspection was broken as Urz ran through the door to her house, turned, and charged, headlong into Gwen's chair. Without missing a beat, the varren scampered off the porch and out of sight. The reason for the varren's flight became apparent as Athena, Gwen and Liara nearly two year old daughter appeared in the doorway and would have repeated Urz's mistake had Gwen not sweepped her up into her synthetic arms. Athena screamed in delight as Gwen swung her around and pulled her into a hug. She was about the size of a human child of the same age as asari development didn't slow to it's glacial rate until late-adolescence.

Gwen carried her daughter back inside where she found Liara in the middle of a phone call with Matriarch Atheyta.

"So, you'll be here at 6:00?" she was asking.

"Yes, yes. You and Gwen can have all the fun you want, super-grandad is on the job."

"Father, we're going to a painfully boring diplomatic ceremony. I can assure you you aren't missing out."

Atheyta rolled her eyes and said "unless they're giving you bunk beds I'm sure you'll find ways to keep each other entertained."

Liara blushed and said "Great, thanks. I'll see you this evening."

"Sounds like we have a plan." Gwen said as liara ended the call "So, the Citadel's open for business again. And guess who has to be there."

"If you stopped complaining, you might even enjoy it."

"Eh, I hated these things when I could blend into the crowd and duck out early. Now, well. Let's just say Councelor Vakarian owes me another one. Like Garrus needed a bigger hat. At least that Sparatus bastard got kicked out on his ass. God I wish I had seen his face when he got the news. 95% of Turian citizens voted for Garrus.?"

Liara smiled and said "Come on, we better get ready."  
* * * *  
Gwen and Liara packed weekend bags, kissed Athena goodbye, gave Atheyta instructions on how to feed Urz ("for the millionth time" she complained) and headed to the shuttle which would take them to the Destiny Ascension which had housed the Council in orbit around Thessia while the Citadel underwent repairs. From there, they would take the recently repaired mass relay from Thessia to the Serpent Galaxy where the jewel in the crown of Galactic cooperation had been restored. Apparently, The Crucible had been detached and left in orbit as a monument to those lives lost to the Reapers.

When the pair disembarked from the shuttle, they were greeted by an embarrassingly large retinue. C-Sec, Spectres, Turian Millitary, Alliance Marines, seemingly every single uniform on the enormous ship were packed into the shuttle bay. When the door opened, they all came immediately to present arms. Gwen was pretty sure she would die. She HATED being the center of attention. She much preferred... the darkest corner with the best view. She pushed away the thought of Thane and walked to where the Council was waiting. When she stood before them, she came to present arms herself and said "Spectre Shepard, reporting."

She waited for the military members of the Council to return and drop their salutes before she dropped hers. Much to her relief, the bay's other occupants dropped their salutes as well. The crowd was then dismissed and the Council left with Liara and Shepard in their wake.

"Whose dumb ass idea was that?" Gwen asked the Council.

"Pass up a chance to remind you that you aren't God? Please, Shepard." Garrus said.

"It wasn't anyone's idea. Everyone who wasn't on duty just showed up. Anything to get a glimpse of the Savior of the Galaxy." The human councilor said.

"Oh, dear God. Please, kill me now." Gwen moaned.

"It's not that bad. You get used to it, I promise." Councilor Tevos, the only War Councilor to have survived reelection, said.

"Go fuck yourself." Gwen replied. When the asari Councilor looked at her, askance, Gwen just made air-quotes and mouthed "ah, yes Reapers".

They took a lift to the Councilor's and guests berths. They could be described only as... plush. "And Joker flipped for leather seats." Gwen couldn't help thinking to herself. A butler or something showed Gwen and Liara to their rooms so they could freshen up. The shower was bigger than the entire master bathroom in their house in Azra. The bed was big enough to make a Fornax director wet himself in delight.

"Well, not bunk beds then." Gwen cracked. "Atheyta's going to demand stories, isn't she."

"Knowing my father, yes. Definitely."

They showered and Gwen donned her dress blues while Liara put on a formal dress. Then, the went back out into the common area to meet the rest of the Council. To Gwen's dismay, Councilor Tevos was the first one to join them.

"Shepard, I get the impression that you have yet to 'bury the hatchet' as I think you humans say." Tevos began.

"Well, countless lives were lost because you brushed me off so, yeah, I am a little upset."

"You have to understand that our hands were tied. We couldn't have done anything differently."

"Ah, yes, Reapers. We have dismissed that claim. You just tell that those were the words of a man who really wanted to help but just couldn't."

"Councilor Sparatus was perhaps more brusque than was..."

"He stopped just short of calling me a liar to my face."

Councilor Tevos sighed and rubbed her forehead. "What can I do to make things right with you, Shepard? I don't want you as my enemy."

"During the ceremony, you're going to have to make a speech, right? A speech that everyone in the Galaxy who cares will be watching?"

"Yes." Tevos said cautiously.

"You will state, in no uncertain terms, that the Council was wrong and you will unreservedly and completely extend your official and personal apologies to the people who died from your inaction as well as their families. That'll be a start, anyway."

Tevos nodded, humbled. "I understand." she said.

Gwen was surprised. She expected equivocation, excuses, or arguments. Perhaps Tevos had finally grown a spine. She decided to withhold final judgement until she had actually heard the speech.

They were soon joined by the remainder of the Council. Garrus represented the turian hierarchy; humanity's council spot had been filled briefly by Admiral Hackett before he ceded the position to a young but promising member of the Alliance diplomatic corps named Lydia Svensson who had cut her teeth managing the diverse teams working on the construction of the Crucible; a still largely unknown quantity named Ledra (no known relation to the merchant residing in Zhu's Hope, Liara had checked in answer to Gwen's inquiry) had filled the Salarian seat. As for the newly added Council races; Tali'Zora's Auntie Raan had stepped into the quarian's long-awaited Council seat; the Elcor had chosen a seasoned diplomat with a truly unpronounceable icosisyllabic name which Councilor Svensson insisted could be shortened to Bob; the hanar Illuminated Primacy was represented by a hanar whose face-name was Boeron and a drell named Quixos; the volus councilor, Hanla, acted mostly as the puppet of the mainstream turian big brass who Garrus had studiously pissed off at every presented opportunity; Ka'hairal Balak, after being pardoned for his actions on Asteroid X57 in return for Batarian military support had been elected to the Council under not-quite-suspicious-enough-to-merit-investigation circumstances; the krogan were represented by Urdnot Kala, a female who played the dumb krogan exceedingly well while concealing what what easily one of the most cunning political minds in on the Council. 

Non-voting observers from both the Rachni and Geth attended the Council when it was in session but usually passed on the political theater events such as this one. The vorcha had almost had a representative on the Council but, in lieu of taking the oath of office, he had shouted something about ryncol, tried to bite the Asari who was administering the oath, and pooped on the carpet before being subdued escorted off the Destiny Ascension. After that, the galactic community accepted that vorcha probably wouldn't be viable Council members in the foreseeable future. As barely 50,000 of the estimated trillions of vorcha had actually shown up and most of them had "written in" either nonsense or crude jokes, even the most staunch civil rights advocates had trouble disputing the decision.

The Destiny Ascension, with much fanfare and blowing of trumpets, set off for the Citadel. During the dinner and reception which was held to welcome the honored guests to the ship Gwen was introduced or reintroduced to many of the other, less widely known military leaders who had held back the Reapers while she marshaled the galaxy to begin retaking lost space. She even embarrassed Liara horribly by shamelessly fangirling when she was introduced to Sergeant Asha T'Culo, an asari commando who had essentially written the book on the sniper/observer craft when fighting against Reapers and their minions. She met up again with Jack who was accompanying Kahlee Sanders as well as Jaocb and Brynn Taylor; Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch; C-Sec's Captain Bailey and his personal assistant, Kolyat Kryos; James Vega; and Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence Lieutenant Miranda Lawson.

After an hour and a half of catching up with old friends and meeting the good and the great of the post-war galaxy, Gwen and Liara retired to their opulent quarters.

"So, your dad's going to want stories, huh? I'd hate to disappoint her." Gwen hinted, not even a little bit subtly after she had stripped out of the formal clothes and Liara had changed into her nightshirt.

"Not tonight, Shepard. That reception wore me out." Liara replied.

"Oh, okay then." Gwen said as her face fell.

"Would it cheer you up if I said I was joking?" Liara said immediately after Gwen turned off the lights.

She heard fabric rustling and Liara's nightshirt hit her in the face. She felt Liara climb on top of her.

"Yeah, that would make me feel much better." she replied before becoming much too distracted to form any further coherent speech.


	3. Knives in the Shadows

The Destiny Ascension arrived right on schedule, leaving Gwen and Liara just enough time to clean up from the night's entertainment and don their second set of formal clothes in as many days. They took a shuttle over the wards which were still largely in shambles and landed on the plaza at the base of the tower which contained the Council chambers. The Embassies, the Conduit, and the Rachni War memorial had all been restored with unerring precision. The Council were the first to take the elevator up to the Council chambers, where the celebrations would take place. Gwen and the other top-shelf VIP's went next. Gwen visibly winced at the holo-flashes and vid-drone spotlights which flooded the elevator as soon as the doors cracked open. She thought she saw Dianna Allers and Khalisah al-Jilani among the press corps. She made her way out of the eye of the press as quickly as decorum allowed.

She was just about to resign herself to a miserable few hours when she spotted someone with the dress, bearing, and position in the room which only a chief of security could pull off. But she wasn't just any chief of security. The dark hair which fell loose around the blue shoulder pads of her armor could only belong to one person.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Captain Ashley Williams all grown up...or, wait, it's Vega now, isn't it?" Gwen said as she approached the woman from behind.

Ashley spun around and shouted "Skipper!" before throwing her arms around Gwen's neck. "Um, yeah. For a year and a half now."

"Good to see you too. Congratulations... and congratulations on the promotions, ma'am." Gwen said snapping to attention and rendering a salute.

As Gwen had hoped, Ashley looked about ready to die from embarrassment but, to her credit, she returned the salute.

"Shepard, if you ever make me do that again, I swear..." she said before shaking her head and saying "come on, there's someone you should meet."

Ashley led Gwen over to a six and a half foot tall alien unlike any Gwen had ever seen in the flesh. It was as slender as a salarian with four arms and a tail which swept across the floor behind it. It's upper arms, tail and head were lightly covered in feathers. Most intriguingly, it had four swords; two across it's back and one at either hip. The sheaths were highly decorated but the hilts were wrapped in plain, black paracord. Gwen's father, a classicist to the core, had insisted that, before she learn to handle firearms, she master at least one edged weapon so Gwen knew her way around the things better than most Alliance soldiers. She would need a good look at the blade and fastenings to know for sure but she would have bet her boots that, beneath those ornamental sheaths were deadly tools of warfare.

"Madame Kestra?" Ashley said to the alien. "This is the woman I told you about. Commander, this is Madame Kestra, the official envoy of the Raloi."

"Ah, commander." Madame Kestra said "It is so good to finally meet you. You name had been on every pair of lips since we reestablished contact with the galaxy."

"I'm only sorry that your first introduction to the Council was cut short." Gwen replied.

"It is no matter. I would have preferred that our people stand with yours to win your respect on the field of combat but, while my people did not make the honorable choice, they did make the right one, I think. Still, we did not count on you, Commander."

"A common mistake, I assure you. And one that often ends poorly for the ones that make it."

"I can see why. When we were first introduced, I could barely believe that you were the woman I had heard such great things about. I must admit, I expected you to be... taller."

Gwen ducked her head and blushed at that. That was an absurdly common reaction. Most people pictured her as a space-age amazon. 7 ft. tall and able to crush stone with her bare hands. Instead, she was well below average height at 5'5" and she had been barely tipped the scales at 135 pounds before she had acquired her synthetic body parts.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I'm sorry but I couldn't help but notice your swords." Gwen said, trying to get away from the subject "Are they decorational?"

"Not in the slightest, Commander. Among the raloi, it is unthinkable to go into battle without a blade at your side. Our homeworld has far fewer open plains than yours so we never lost the need for close-combat proficiency, even after the advent of gunpowder. If you wish for a demonstration, have been asked to preform a traditional raloi blade dance later in the ceremony. It is traditional to ask afterwards if anyone wished to duel. If there are any challengers, you might see what raloi can truly do with a blade in hand."

"I look forward to it." Gwen said. "Do you mind if we go eat? I'm a bit peckish."

"Not at all, Commander. I believe our chefs prepared numerous dishes. I can recommend the best."

They perused the buffet tables which had all variety of food from all Council species. Growing up, Gwen's only reprieve from protein in every color of the rainbow had been in whichever ports they had stopped in. Sometimes that meant planets with an overwhelmingly alien population and other times it meant worlds that had been populated by very specific, obscure ethnic groups of humanity. This had left her with a taste for just about any exotic cuisine she could lay hands on. The only food she couldn't stand was the bland lumps of sludge that were sold at some so-called restaurants. Ships were for bad food. Planets and space stations were places to try something new. The food which had been laid out did not disappoint. She filled a plate and found a table. Madame Kestra soon joined her, pulling up a bench on which raloi lounged when they ate in order to accommodate their tails. They were joined by others who wanted a piece of the Savior of the Galaxy's time. Gwen introduced Madame Kestra and Liara, tactfully warded off a few advances from some more enthusiastic and oblivious fans who didn't notice the murderous looks Liara treated any excessively forward individuals to, and reflected on how this was shaping up to be a rather pleasant little vacation after all. She even managed a substantive conversation with a few spectres about the state of the group.

After a few hours of socializing, the speeches began. Tevos went first.

She approached the lectern, scanned the crowd in silence until she locked eyes with Shepard. Then she began.

"I had a speech prepared. It was full of big, fancy phrases like 'golden era of galactic cooperation.' But, on the way here from Thessia, I had a conversation with someone who will go unnamed. This person reminded me of a debt I owe. This debt has not only gone unpaid; it has gone unacknowledged. This ends today. As I'm sure you all know, the Reapers caught us by surprise. They did this in spite of the fact that a highly decorated and extremely professional soldier had been sounding the alarm for three years. Everything we needed to know was laid out before us. Sovereign, Saren, the Collectors; all the pieces were there before us. We even had Commander Shepard putting them together for us and yet, we dropped the ball. This was inexcusable. We might have had our forces marshaled and ready to meet the Reapers. Instead, we dithered, we equivocated, and most unforgivably, we found it easier to tarnish the name and reputation of an upstanding and well regarded soldier rather than face the uncomfortable truth that there was an imminent threat from a force capable of wiping out life in the galaxy. I want to be clear, when I say 'we', I don't mean the citizens of the council races. No, the blame lies exclusively with former Counselors Valern and Sparatus and myself. Because we lacked the will to acknowledge even the possibility of the Reapers, many innocent people died. This is unforgivable. I, personally and professionally owe them and their families a debt that can never be repaid. Of those responsible, only I have been entrusted by the people with a position on the post-war Council and I swear on the blood which was shed fighting the Reaper threat that for as long as I am entrusted by the people with this office that I will do everything in my power to repay that debt. Thank you for listening. That is all."

The press corps erupted with questions which went unacknowledged as Counselor Tevos returned to her seat. They didn't quiet until Councilor Ledra had taken her place. The rest of the Council followed in quick succession but Tevos' had been a impossible act to follow.

For her own part, Shepard had ducked out shortly after Tevos had finished. She was stalking the observation platform when she heard... something. She had been told about how she spoke of hearing Geth after coming out of her coma but she didn't remember the incident. Now, she heard it again. It was very clear and distinct. A geth unit... not clanking or buzzing or making other Geth sounds. No, she could hear them communicating. She focused on the sound and, all of a sudden, the world went white.

_An unidentified presence has entered the collective._

She didn't hear the words nor did she read them. She just knew it was true on a fundamental level. She barely had time to process this when the whiteness surrounding her went black. Red lights appeared.

_Identify yourself._

Again, the words had no tangible source but she knew that they were directed at her.

Pain shot through her body and the words repeated.

_Identify yourself._

_Shepard-Commander_ she thought as hard as she could.

_Identity confirmed. Hostile intent unlikely. Intentions?_

_None. I was just curious. I thought I could hear the collective communicating and the next thing I knew, I was interfacing with it._

The red lights seemed to scrutinize her before they turned blue. _Access granted. Welcome back, Shepard-Commander._

Shepard became vaguely aware of her jaw pressing into the marble of the platform she had been standing on so she dragged her mind out of the collective and sat in a lotus position with her back to a wall that she could comfortably maintain for a long time. She then allowed herself to fall back into the Geth collective.

 _Hello?_ she called out.

A blue light appeared next to her before resolving into a hologram of Legion's old body.

 _Do you require assistance?_ the hologram asked.

_Umm, no. I was just wondering how I can get here without one of those pod things I used back on Rannoch. Do you know?_

_Analyzing... present data suggests that your neural implants are facilitating direct communication with the Geth Collective._

_Wow,_ Gwen thought. There was literally a universe of information before her. When she had entered the collective on Rannoch, she had been in a single, isolated node which was cut off from the rest of the Geth to prevent network-wide attacks. Before her now was access to every geth unit in range of a mass relay or comm buoy. With a flick of her mind, she could be on Rannoch or back in the station in the Phoenix Massing.

 _How much access do I have?_ she thought at the collective.

_You saved the geth from the Reapers as well as the creators. We have nothing to hide from you._

_Do you mean I saved the creators from the Reapers or the geth from the creators?_ she asked.

 _Yes._ the Collective replied.

Suddenly, Gwen noticed a disturbance in the uncountable masses of dancing white lights before her. They all seemed to be converging on a single point.

_Laborer unit in distress. Send nearest support troops._

Gwen focused on the dot and before she could stop herself, she was seeing through the optics of the unit in question.

She never fully appreciated how sensitive the Geth units were. Their optics took in the full spectrum of light and shifted which section of the spectrum they were focusing on moment to moment. Even through the neural implants which had so far done an admirable job of keeping her keel even, Gwen felt more than a little nauseous. The unit was turning in response to a threat perceived by one of its less powerful rear-mounted optics. Then, she felt the bullet impact the side of its head. Gwen had been shot in the head once. Honestly, it wasn't all that bad. A little pain then waking up in a med-bay a few days later with a pounding headache. This was different. She felt every nanosecond of the bullet piercing the chassis of the geth mobile platform. Every tiny micro-fragment of lead which sheared off the bullet burned like fire. When it started entering hardware, the fire turned to a raging inferno. She knew that when the bullet reached the CPU, she would die. She began to panic as the bullet drew nearer the vital system. She watched it, her brain processing at the speed of light but still unable to do anything to stop the inevitable. Then, suddenly, she felt the collective reaching out to her, pulling her back into the comforting glow of the hive mind. When Gwen looked to where the unit was, she saw only darkness. The lights in the immediate area were flicking around at the speed of thought trying to marshal against whoever had attacked the geth unit.

_Nearest networked hardware... ID..._

Every light froze and seemed to stare at her as the collective finished the thought.

_Shepard-Commander_

"Oh, shit." Gwen muttered, as she returned to her body. She maintained the link to the collective but shoved it into the corner of her brain where she kept comms chatter while on missions.

 _Okay,_ she asked the Collective _where do I need to go?_

Her legs started moving as she somehow became aware of the position of the dead unit; the quickest route; viable alternatives; and everything the collective knew about the threat, from the exact caliber of the bullet to the make of the gun. The attacker had opted to use quieter, subsonic ammunition rather than standard ammo which meant that the lights flitting around the dying unit had been able to analyze the shockwave before the unit had shut down. It was an extremely common M-3 Predator with a shield-piercing mod. It wasn't much against an Alliance hardsuit.

"Now if only I had an Alliance hardsuit." She thought to herself. Still, she could get used to the instant, real-time status updates.

She tapped out a radio command on her omni-tool and said "Ash, it's me. Listen, I'm up on the observation platform. How fast can you have someone at the level three gallery? A geth unit was just attacked there. I'm going to check it out."

"Shepard? How do you... nevermind. Are you armed?"

"Negative."

"I have someone on the other side of level three. ETA, 45 seconds. Wait for backup."

"Roger." Gwen began to slide along the wall as she approached the dead Geth unit lying outside the gallery entrance. Before she had felt it, she might have said it was an instant kill. She felt a pang of guilt for all the Geth she had killed before she realized that what her brain had interpreted as pain, the Collective would only have registered as damage to a networked unit. As a salarian and an asari in armor bearing spectre insignias rounded the corner of the hallway Gwen peaked around the corner, into the gallery. There, an armored figure was setting up a high-powered version of an M-29 Incisor sniper rifle. The figure didn't have any overwatch.

"Sloppy," she thought. "very sloppy."

She signaled to the two Spectres that there was one distracted target. The asari nodded, handed Gwen a pistol and personal shield generator and the three stacked outside the door. When they all signaled their readiness, they burst into the room.

"Freeze! Get your hands where I can see them!" the Salarian shouted.

The armored figure rolled over and brought the rifle around with unnerving speed and shot the Salarian in the chest. As the shot rang out, Gwen felt thousands of low-level combat-support geth units flooding her brain. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the Geth took over the heavy lifting of the data processing. Gwen squeezed off two rounds which impacted in the exact same spot on the shield protecting the figure's head. She leaped forward while emptying the magazine with accuracy she only could dreamed of before. As the asari fell to the rifleman, Gwen finished closing the distance between them. Her hand sought the bolt of the rifle and, using the strength of the synthetic muscles, ripped it from it's housing rendering the rifle useless. Then, she picked the armored figure up and threw him against the window separating the gallery from the main Council chambers. He fell to the floor and Gwen heel-kicked him across the jaw. His head spun 180 degrees and he didn't move.

Time seemed to return to it's normal pace as the geth withdrew from the implants after apologizing for the intrusion.

Gwen called in the downed hostile and two injured friendlies as she began to tend to the injuries of the two Spectres. The asari wasn't bad, she wasn't even unconscious. The bullets had gone clean through her shoulder. After some medi-gel and down time, she would be just fine. The Salarian was in much worse shape. Two bullets were lodfed in his lungs and the third was uncomfortably close to his heart. Fortunately, EMT's were close at hand and arrived shortly. When she passed the Spectres off to the medics, Gwen turned to the fallen figure. His weapon was fairly generic and all ID had been stripped off of it rendering the weapon effectively untraceable. The removed the figure's helmet after marveling at the impressive dent her kick had left. Underneath was a batarian with a half-crushed face and a neck which had been snapped into splinters. Gwen asked the Geth to overlay an image of the sniper in position when they had first entered the room over what her own eyes were showing. Moments later, a ghostly image of the sniper appeared Gwen looked over his shoulder to where he had been aiming his rifle. It was pointed directly at the batarian counselor who was just finishing up his welcome address.

Gwen's attention was brought back to the here and now by Ashley Vega who had entered behind the EMT's.

"Looks like he was trying to take a shot at the batarian councilor. With that rifle, even the barrier you have up might not have held."

"Shit." Ashley said. "Look, Shepard, not that I'm not grateful. Looks like you saved a life and my job but how the hell did you know about this before we even did?"

"Ash, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." she replied.

"Try me."

So Gwen related what had happened from the time she left the Council Chambers to Ash's appearance on the scene.

"Well, you did warn me." Ash said when she had finished.

"You don't believe me." Gwen said, flatly.

"Shepard, if you told me the sky was green, I think I'd have to take you at your word just in case. Still, I don't know what we're going to tell the Council."

"How about we start with Garrus and see how he takes it. In the mean time, though. We might want to sweep the area, make sure this guy was acting alone."

"Thanks, Shepard, but you're wearing a dress. I'll sweep the area, you go enjoy the party."

* * * *  
Apparently, the batarian had been working alone since the rest of the evening was quiet. Gwen didn't tell anyone what had happened until afterwards when she filled in Garrus, Liara, and a few trusted others. When Gwen finished her story, she remained silent through the discussion. She was gratified to note that no one seemed to skip a beat in accepting the story as truth. Then the discussion turned to the identity of the would-be assassin.

"Anyone mind telling my how that guy managed to get top-of-the-line military hardware onto the Citadel." Ash asked the room at large.

"Exceedingly easily, actually." Liara spoke up. "With all the heavy metal construction material that is being shipped in every day, it wouldn't be too difficult to smuggle in the type of hardware the assassin had and that's only one way it could have been done... speaking hypothetically, of course."

"Liara, do you think you can track down anything about this guy? Suppliers, backers, smugglers?" Gwen asked after a brief but awkward silence.

"I'll put feelers out. The more information you can give me, the sooner I can get results back."

"Great. In the mean time, we need to make sure that the rest of this ceremony goes off without a hitch." Garrus said.

"I'll pull in all the off duty C-Sec and Spectres. No one's getting into that tower without clearance." Ash said.

"Speaking of, do we know the point of entry for the assassin?" Gwen asked.

"Working on it. We know that he didn't use any conventional entrances, they all had electronic surveillance on them. Top priority is covering the keeper tunnels and external access points." Ash replied.

 _If you require assistance, we can divert defense units to where ever they would do most good._ the geth chipped in.

"The geth can help out wherever you need them, by the way." Gwen relayed.

Ash looked startled. "They were listening this whole time?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm not sure I could stop them if I wanted to."

_If you wish for privacy, you need only ask._

_Might have told me that a little sooner?_

_You didn't ask._

That drew Gwen up short. She hadn't asked. Even after a lifetime of dealing with computers, she still had trouble remembering that the geth were as literal-minded as the disposable laptops she had first learned to code on. It was a lesson she needed to learn fast if she wanted to keep interacting with the geth like this.

The discussion broke up and the gathered people dispersed. Gwen and Liara returned to the shuttle which took them back to the Destiny Ascension. They would return to the festivities the next day, after Gwen replaced her spectacularly ruined shoe.  
* * * *  
Gwen and Liara spent the evening making calls over secure lines to various contacts trying to find a lead on the batarian assassin. They made as good headway as could be expected from the dubious security of the flagship of the Council fleet. Afterwards, they called Atheyta. She seemed to have mostly remembered how to be a parent because Athena was clearly in good health as evidenced by the squeal of delight she gave when she saw the image of her parents.

"Mama! Dada!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, Athena. Don't be too mean to you grandmama, now." Gwen said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Gandmama!" Athena squeaked, hugging one of Atheyta's legs.

Gwen and Liara chatted with Atheyta for a while while studiously avoiding any mention of the day's earlier events before signing off for the day.  
* * * *  
The following day, Gwen and Liara took took the same shuttle as Councilors Tevos, Vakarian, Raan and Svensson.

As soon as they took off Gwen addressed a truly dejected looking Councilor Tevos.

"I know making that speech couldn't have been easy but, for what it's worth, you did the right thing. If you stick to your guns and show me that was more than cheep talk, the scales are balanced between us."

Tevos looked Gwen right in the eye and said "Shepard, last night, I committed political suicide. I expected to get back to the Ascension to find my approval rating hovering near zero but... they've never been higher. I think what you pushed me into saying was just what the galaxy needed to hear. I do plan on sticking to my word. Shepard, I... thank you. Even after everything you've done, you keep helping. You know, if you ever wanted a council seat..."

"Now wait just a second." Councilor Svensson cut in.

"Don't worry, Councilor. I would literally rather eat a husk than take a council seat."

"It's really not that bad, Shepard." Garrus chipped in. "As long as you don't mind long hours, awful conditions, no excitement... huh, maybe it is that bad. At least the pay's decent."

Before she could formulate a response, Gwen's omnitool buzzed. She accessed the message sending it directly to her optical implants. It read "I have information on the assassin. Meet me at the Consort's old chambers. Come alone"

Gwen forwarded the message to Liara and Garrus.

When the shuttle landed, she said something about needing to stretch her legs and made her way over to the former base of operations for the Consort. She was comforted by the weight of her beloved and moderately illegal M-11 Suppressor in her shoulder holster. As she approached the now-vacant brothel, Gwen slipped the weapon out of it's holster. She entered the building. The atrium and main chambers were empty. She moved on to the Consort's old room. She opened the door and did a quick scan of the room. Nothing, just a keeper. She spun around, expecting an ambush. Nothing. She really didn't like this.

"God killer." a flat, mechanical voice said from behind her.

Again, she spun on her heel, bringing her pistol to bear on the only conceivable target, the keeper.

"That will not be necessary." the voice said.

"Where are you?" Gwen called out in a commanding voice.

"Standing, in plain view, in the middle of this room." The voice replied.

"Are... are you the keeper."

"No, I am the light fixture."

Gwen wasn't sure whether the keeper was being sarcastic or if the light really was talking to her. They seemed about equally likely.

"Yes, dolt. I am Keeper-Overseer#7 I oversee the keepers in charge of developing improvements to existing technology on the Citadel. You seem rather dense to be the God Killer. Are you sure you are Commander Shepard."

"Pretty sure, yeah." Gwen had so many questions that she didn't have the faintest idea where to start. "How many keepers like you are there? I mean, how many researchers."

"One. After you killed the gods, the other keepers gained access to previously suppressed schematics for building improved overseer models. I was the first and, thus far, only such model built."

"And you sent that message?"

"Of course I sent the message. Are all your species so tedious or are you damaged?"

"You said you have information for me?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, human." Keeper-Overseer #7 said. If it's oversized eyes could roll, Gwen knew they would be rolling.

"Are you going to give it to me?"

"No. Not until I secure transport off this station."

"Excuse me?" Gwen asked, shocked.

"Human, you are not making a good first impression for your species."

"Sorry, it's just that I didn't know that keepers wanted to or even could leave the Citadel."

"Normally, they don't and can't. However, if you had been paying attention, you would know that I am not an ordinary keeper."

"Okay, lets say I take you off the Citadel, what then?"

"I see the galaxy. The keepers have been willing slaves, bound to this station for longer than you can imagine. I, as the first of my species capable of independent thought, want to see what all the fuss is about."

"Okay, give me the info and I'll take you with me when I go."

"No."

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"You get your information when I'm off this station, not before; and we'll go now."

"Alright, alright. Sheesh. Just give me a moment."

Gwen stood outside the door and called up her omnitool's radio.

"Liara, it's me. There's been a... complication. Everything's alright but it might be a while before I get back. I've got a... you know, it can wait." then, to the keeper "okay, lets go."

They boarded the shuttle and Gwen thanked God that it was automatically controlled. Explaining the situation to a pilot might have been awkward.

After they docked with the Destiny Ascension, Gwen escorted the keeper to the guest quarters. It had made several comments about how it could "improve" her prosthesis so she decided to give him his own room. When it was situated, Gwen asked again for the information. This time, the keeper obliged.

The data was more than Gwen could have hoped for. It was a detailed explanation of how the hardware and assassin had been covertly taken to the Citadel complete with maps, diagrams and security camera footage.

Gwen thanked the keeper and rushed off to deliver the information to Ashley.


	4. A Man's Home Is His Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so my computer's broken so it's going to be slow updating for a while. Still, I'm excited about where this is going.

"Gwen, it's good to see you again."

Diana Allers ambushed Gwen right out of the elevator with the same face she had worn when Gwen had promised her a room on the Normandy four years ago.

"Yeah, Diana. Likewise. Look, I really need to talk to Ashley, can we talk later?"

Without waiting for an answer, Gwen dodged Allers and made a beeline for Ashley.

"Shepard, what's up?" Ashley asked.

"I've got everything you could ever wish to know about our assassins movements after he got on to the Citadel." Gwen replied.

"You... What? So, I'm guessing your covert little meeting went well?"

"It's a long story. Come on. I'll fill you in."

Gwen grabbed Garrus, Liara, and the rest of their group and recounted the events of that morning. Gwen was gratified to see that the rest of them were just as surprised as she had been about the Keeper-Overseer. When she finished, Ash began to speak.

"I ran the face... what was left of it anyway, thanks for that, by the way, Skipper. Anyway, I ran the face through our database of known criminals. Not much luck. The guy was a gun for hire. He had connections to groups which had connections to the batarian counter-revolutionaries but I can't make a closer connection with our information, and, lets be honest, it may have just been coincidence that the batarian councilor ended up in his sights. If any of the Council had been assassinated here..." she trailed off.

The galactic unity which the Reaper threat had brought on had died shortly after the Reapers. The shortly after reclaiming their occupied worlds, the batarians had experienced a short but bloody revolution which left their core-worlds in the control of a relatively free and open government but their fringe-worlds, including those in the disputed Attican Traverse, in the control of various, loosely associated totalitarian warlords, all of which wanted desperately to raise their own flags over Khar'shan. None of them, individually, posed a threat to the sitting government but together they could certainly destabilize and possibly overthrow the fledgling democracy.

The problems didn't end with batarian space, though. It didn't take long for a sizable group of quarians to remember that they had spent the last few centuries fleeing the geth and, despite their assurances to the contrary, had left Rannoch for fear that the geth were laying a trap about to spring. The quarian troubles were magnified when the firebrand Han'Gerrel vas Neema had taken a sizable portion of former the Migrant Fleet security force with him to what some were calling the New Migrant Fleet.

The salarian dalatrass remembered very clearly how the STG had gone over her head during the war and, according to unsubstantiated rumors, she had been busily purging political undesirables from the upper echelons of her administration. She had been subtle enough that the Council had been unable to act but, through Liara's contacts, Gwen had learned that senior salarian government members who had spoken or acted against the dalatrass were, indeed, being disappeared with alarming regularity... before all of Liara's salarian contacts had simultaneously gone silent.

Though Wrex had managed to consolidate his power in the post-war years, the exploding population of young krogan had resulted in an mass exodus of adolescent krogan from Tuchanka and straight into the galactic market for mercenaries.

For their part, the Alliance had been forced to withdraw many of their forces from their fringe-worlds to better protect more valuable assets during the Reaper War. When the Alliance reestablished contact with those worlds, they found those world's inhabitants felt abandoned by the Alliance and gave them receptions ranging from grudging acceptance of Alliance control followed immediately by petitions for secession rights to surface-to-orbit artillery fire. To make matters worse, many of the rebels were supported by the less Reaper-enhanced members of Cerberus who had survived the Crucible's purge and had reformed into a smaller, and more poorly supplied but no worse organized or less secretive organization.

Aria T'Loak had tried to expand her power past the bounds of Omega but, in a rare miscalculation, had overextended herself. Now, trying to keep hold of Omega was proving a struggle as many refugees flooded the station, some of whom thought they could cut themsleves a slice of Omega that Aria hadn't given them. Some of them, were right.

Even the asari and the Illuminated Primacy had their share of troubles. A small group of drell were... petitioning for expanded freedoms for their brethren. Many of those petitions were sharp, explosive, or toxic. The majority of drell condemned their actions but the group was disproportionately well supplied suggesting outside help from sources unknown. As for the asari, many young maidens had gotten religion during the Reaper War and afterwards, had filled the Matriarch's Council with religious fundamentalists.

Gwen's reverie was broken by Diana Allers tapping firmly on her shoulder.

"Gwen, can I have a quick word?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. Sure. What's up?"

Allers nodded suggestively at the camera drone hovering behind her.

"Oh, that kind of word. Okay, go ahead." Gwen said with a sigh.

"Great. Follow me. I found a place with perfect light and great scenery."

Gwen followed Allers below the platform where the Council stood to address petitions.

"Do you know what happened here?" Gwen asked Diana when they emerged into the small garden.

"Lots of stuff. Did you have something in particular in mind?"

"This is where I killed Saren. Right over there." Gwen replied, indicating the spot in question.

"Oh, um. Wow." Diana said, struggling to find the right words.

"You wanted an interview?" Gwen said, taking the pressure off.

"Yeah, right. The interview." Gwen tolerated a few minutes of Allers fussing over her exact position, the arrangement of her uniform, and the thousand and one other intricacies which spelled the difference between looking like hell on camera and looking somewhat presentable.

"So, Commander. Early reports indicate that you were involved in stopping an assassination attempt earlier in the ceremony." Diana said after a brief introduction.

"Yes, that's correct." Gwen said. "An investigation into the exact nature, purpose, and methods involved is ongoing and authorities are making good progress. However, I can't say more at this time except that the breach in security has been found and plugged."

"Why were you at the scene of the assassination?"

"I was out stretching my legs, getting away from the crowd and I heard something unusual. I found the assassin and notified the appropriate authorities."

"And that was the extent of your involvement?"

"No, when the other Spectres arrived, I went after the assassin with them. More than that, I'm not at liberty to say."

"Do you believe that this attack might have been the work of batarian counter-revolutionaries?"

"I really can't comment on any specific line of investigation."

"Okay, one last question. There is a lot of talk about the possibility of the Council reinstituting the position of Executor of Special Tactics and Recon. Any comments?"

"I'm sorry, I'm really not in a position to confirm or deny that the Council has such plans. As for whether it's a good idea, I can certainly think of worse ones. But, again, I've been a bit out of touch for a while and I can't really don't have enough information to comment on the current situation."

"If the position were offered to you, would you accept?"

The question caught Gwen off guard so she parried with a smile. "Now, lets not get ahead of ourselves. The Council hasn't even put a discussion of whether not to vote on whether or not to consider thinking about reinstituting that position on the docket. If the time comes when I need to make that call, I'll be sure that my first official act if I accept is to schedule an exclusive interview with you about it."

"Thank you, Commander. I'll hold you to that. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been long-time friend of the show Commander Shepard on this exclusive special edition of the Battlespace, live from the very spot where our favorite Commander made her name by defeating rouge Spectre Saren Arterius during the First Battle of the Citadel. Commander, thank you very much."

"Miss Allers, it has been a pleasure, as always."

The interview over, the pair returned to the party. That evening, the closing ceremonies took place. Madame Kestra was formally accepted as the raloi ambassador to the Citadel, the krogan and quarian councilors were granted, on behalf of their respective species, colony rights to a number of their former colonies, much champagne was drunk, and many speeches were made.

Afterwards, Gwen and her entire circle of friends and former crew-members gathered for an after-party which culminated in Jack and Miranda exchanging public professions of eternal love, all of which Gwen managed to catch on her omni-tool's recorder.  
* * * *

Gwen and Liara stumbled, drunkenly, to the shuttle with the other party members who had come, and would leave, on the Destiny Ascension. Garrus and Tali would be living together on the Citadel for the indefinite future along with the rest of the Council and their families.

The pair collapsed into bed and fell into an alcohol assisted sleep almost immediately. They awoke to the sound of the Ascension's crew notifying the passengers that they were half an hour away from orbit around Thessia. They cleaned themselves up, bade a last farewell to their friends and boarded a shuttle to Thessia City.

From there it was barely a half hour to their home in Azra. The sight that greeted them turned Gwen's blood to ice water. Their front door had been torn open. Gwen and Liara both snapped to full battle-readiness.

Gwen lead the way with her pistol out while Liara covered her with a biotic barrier. The first contact they made was a pair of asari in unmarked uniforms. Gwen grabbed a blade from the hallway just inside their door. The blade had been a gift from a weaponsmith and was tailored to kill husks and other Reaper minions. Part katana and part machete, it's monomolecular blade could cut through armor, flesh and bone as quickly and silently as the most top-of-the-line modern weapons. With the sword in one hand and her pistol in the other, Gwen advanced on the two beneath the security of her tactical cloak.

"Come on," one was saying. "We've got to finish up before the bitch gets home. We have legal immunity but something tells me she wont take kindly to us threatening her kid."

That was all Gwen needed to be sure that this wasn't an innocent misunderstanding between lawful authorities.

"Too late." she whispered in her most menacing voice. She stabbed the nearer asari through the heart. Since her cloak extended over the blade, as far as the asari's companion knew, a menacing voice had just made her partners chest explode. Before she could recover, Gwen put two rounds from her silenced pistol through her antagonists forehead. As she expected, there was a third target, a quarian through the door the asari had been standing in front of. He was unarmed and appeared to have a slave collar around his neck. Gwen decloaked and gestured for the quarian to remain silent. He nodded frantically and gestured at the collar. It was an old model which Gwen was familiar with. She sent an overloading charge through a sweetspot on the collar which sparked and smoked. Gwen grabbed opposite ends of the collar and ripped it off. The quarian nodded his thanks. Gwen quickly tapped on a concealed panel next to the door which the quarian had been futilely trying to open.

Gwen sighed in relief when Atheyta's face appeared on the screen.

"Shepard, thank the goddess. These goons showed up about an hour ago. I tried to hold them off but they were good. Military, I think. One of them got me in the leg. Barely got Athena into the panic room. I managed to get her to sleep. Shepard, I won't be much good to you up there. They cut off comms from down here except this direct link so I couldn't call the police. Call down when they're dead."

"Hoorah." Gwen replied.

She told the quarian to get outside and she and Liara cleared the house, room to room, taking down the single and pairs of asari as quietly as possible. The last room was Liara's office. An asari was barking orders into a silent radio and at a pair of maidens who were standing, blank-faced, at the leaders heals. The three were dressed strangely in armor which looked ancient. The younger two were also wearing strange hoods and had hypnotic patterns tattooed on their faces in black ink. Gwen snuck up behind one of the younger asari. Gwen's cloak slipped as she wrapped an arm around her throat. The other maiden noticed her just as her companion went limp. She shouted in surprise as Gwen rolled backwards. She ducked behind a desk just in time for two powerful warp fields to tear it to pieces. As Liara tossed a singularity toward the pair, Gwen ran through the open door to the master bedroom. She darted into the closet and closed the door behind her. She stepped to the safe in the corner and tapped in an 8 digit code and the entire back wall of the closet slid aside, noislessly. She stepped through and the door closed behind her. An overhead light came on just as the roof of the saferoom slid open and Liara jumped down.

They nodded at each other to confirm that they were both uninjured and they both donned their armor. Gwen's old armor had been rendered completely combat-inneffective at the battle of London so she had donated it, along with her late-lamented Black Widow sniper rifle to a war museum on Earth which had put out the call for donations. She was shcoked and overjoyed that Christmas when Liara had presented her with perfect copies of both the Spectre-exclusive rifle and the nigh-unattainable Cerberus Nightmare armor. Questions about how they had been acquired were met with a wink and a coy smile. Gwen opted to leave the rifle on its hook but took the custom modded N7 Hurricane from it's slot along with all the thermal clips her ammo belt could hold. Gwen reopened the door to the saferoom to find the other maiden just about to open the closet door. When she did, she was greeted by a storm of bullets from the Hurricane which tore through her barriers and her unprotected face in seconds.

The leader was just emerging from the bathroom as Gwen and Liara stepped back into the open.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Gwen shouted.

Her query was greeted by a biotic blast which tore into the closet, destroying much of Gwen and Liara's clothing. Gwen and Liara traded fire with the last asari until their thermal clips ran out. They locked eyes before Gwen cloaked.

Liara used biotics to cover Gwen's slow and steady advance. As their opponent extended an arm to return biotics with biotics, Gwen's blade flashed out. The heavy blade turned against the armor but her arm was consumed in sparks as the biotic fire surrounding her faded. Her bio-amp had clearly been damaged. Her other hand came around and struck the now-decloaked Gwen square in the faceplate. Even without an amp, the punch had enough biotic kick to knock Gwen back and to throw her sword from her hand. The asari prepared a biotic charge.

"I always wanted to try this" Gwen thought to herself.

As the asari charged, Gwen reached out and grabbed her arms. Even with her armor, her biological arms would have shattered under the impact. Her synthetic arms, however, were in a category of their own. She allowed herself to fall backwards under the charge and braced her heel against the asari's gut. The biotic charge carried the asari all the way through Liara's office where she slammed against a wall before she could recover from her daze, Urz, who had been watching from the door from the office into the hall, saw his chance for glory, or possibly bloodshed, like he hadn't seen since his glory days as a pit fighter. He slammed into the asari, contemplated her for a moment, and then sank his two-inch fangs into her throat. Gwen picked herself up off the floor and called Urz away from the corpse. The varren slunk away from the body.

Gwen and Liara called Atheyta back up and secured the surviving maiden. Then they arranged the bodies in the living room. When they checked for identification, they found that the leader and her acolytes were covered in the strange tattoos from head to toe. The leader's tattoos were far more elaborate than the others. When Atheyta saw them, she whistled softly.

"Do you know what these are?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, never thought I'd see them in real life, though. Nezzy told me about them. Ancient and very rare asari script. Only known document written in those runes is the original copy of the Justicar Code."

The room was consumed in silence as they absorbed the implications of that last statement. The silence was broken by an almost inaudible pop from the room where the surviving acolyte was kept. They rushed into the room to find the maiden lying limp. A quick scan revealed that a suicide charge had liquefied her brain.

"Well... shit." Gwen said.


	5. Blood on the Sand

Samara had spent the last few months tracking an asari arms dealer who had been funneling materiel to the drell rebels on Kahje. She had recently received a tip about her location. Apparently, though, the arms dealer had been tipped off moments before her arrival. She had fled her hideout with Samara hot on her heels. The fugitive ducked down an alleyway. Samara followed, just barely keeping track of her through the twisting maze. The arms dealer skidded to a halt as she ran out onto an open parking pad. She tapped out an order on her omnitool and a nearby car rose briefly into the air before stalling and crashing back to the asphalt. The arms dealer swore and turned to face the oncoming Justicar.

"Wait, please. I'll come quietly." she yelled, falling to her knees.

Samara slowed but kept her biotics charged, expecting a trick of some kind. There was one, but not like she was expecting. There was a pop of distant sniper fire and the arms dealer fell to the floor of the parking pad, her brains vaporized by a heavy, anti-materiel rifle round. She had just enough time to register a sleek, black aricar approaching the platform before a concussive round clipped her temple, rendering her instantly unconscious.  
* * * *  
Before Samara opened her eyes, she took account of her surroundings. She had been stripped out of her armor and she was handcuffed to a chair. She opened her eyes just enough to see. She was in a dark room with plain walls and boarded up windows. Before she could continue her assessment, a blast of icy water hit her from behind. She responded involuntarily, drawing on her biotics to tear through the restraints. But, as the power rose in her arms, it was drowned by an all-powerful wave of nausea which almost made her pass out again.

She shook the water out of her eyes and made out a blurry figure.

"Who's there?" she yelled.

The figure stepped into the dim light from the boarded window.

After her time on the Normandy, there were only two things Samar was sure she would never see in her life. Now, she saw them both. The first was anything which could make her afraid, the second, Commander Shepard, prepared to kill in anger. Now, she saw Shepard's forest-green eyes blazing with barely restrained fury directed at her and that made her more afraid than she had been in centuries.

With no prelude, Gwen drove the heel of a palm into Samara's ribs. The didn't break but they would bruise.

"Shepard." Samara gasped "what are you doing?"

"Shut your fucking mouth." Gwen said, punching her in the gut.

"You have sixty seconds" Shepard said "to tell me why a Justicar tried to kidnap my three year old daughter. Make it good."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Samara said, truthfully.

Gwen punched her in the ribs hard enough to make her head spin. When her field of view came back into focus, Gwen was holding pictures of three, dead asari in front of her.

"These three people attacked my home, they tried to abduct my daughter." Samara's sympathy for Gwen returned as her voice broke "Do you recognize any of them?"

Samara forced herself to focus on the images. "No, I... wait. Yes, the one in the middle. Her name is Phora. She's a zealot. Whenever she brings fugitives in alive, they're usually... terrified, abused, and occasionally... not right in the head, as Jack might say. After her training, she watched her mentor be killed by a Thresher Maw, I believe. After that, she regularly pushed the code to just before its breaking point. She was often reprimanded by the Justicar Council but never pushed hard enough to be expelled from the Order. If she did what you say... I was about to say she certainly would be expelled. Expelled posthumously, if that picture is anything to judge by."

"Why?" Gwen asked.

"Why would she be expelled?" asked Samara, confused.

"Why was this psycho in my fucking house?" Gwen yelled.

"Shepard, I... I can't say. But, I can see that this incident has troubled you. I promise that if you let me go, I will do all I can to find out what's going on. You and your family will have justice."

Gwen regarded her for a long moment. Then, she spoke. "I'm taking my family somewhere safe. Somewhere far from asari space. If you find anything out, you know how to get in touch. If you come looking for revenge for this," she gestured at the darkened room "I swear, I will kill you. We never saw eye to eye on your code but you know I respect you. But none of that matters if family is in danger. Maybe you don't remember what it's like to put your family before any code but I am so lucky. If you think I'm bluffing, just try your luck."

"I believe you, Shepard. I believe your actions here were to protect innocents. Combined with your emotional distress, the code will not demand retribution."

"Good. Your cuffs will unlock in ten minutes. The drug which is suppressing your biotic abilities should wear off within twenty four hours. Your equipment is behind you.... Don't come looking for me, Samara."

Samara looked behind her to where her armor was neatly laid out. When she looked back to where Gwen had been standing, there was nothing but darkness.

* * * *  
By the time the handcuffs clicked open, Shepard was long gone. Samara gathered her belongings and headed out of the dingy building. It didn't take her long to realize that she was in the lair of the arms dealer she had been pursuing earlier. She was still slightly disoriented but she was aware enough to realize that, had she been unaware of her kidnapper's identity, there wouldn't have been a trace of evidence to follow up on.

She struggled to come to grips with the reality of the fact that Commander Shepard, who had saved her life on countless occasions and stopped her from taking her own life on Lesuss, had knocked her out, tied her to a chair and beaten her for information. The side of Commander Shepard she had seen in that warehouse was one she had never seen even a hint of. She had never seen her treat any living being with anything less than the utmost dignity and respect. She hadn't agreed to help hunt Morinth until they had spent hours viewing and reviewing all possible alternatives. She had spoken so passionately in Tail's defense that even the Justicar's ancient heart had moved and then turned around and accepted a geth onto the Normandy with as little fuss as basic common sense had required. She couldn't comprehend how such a change could have taken place.

"Perhaps," the small, quiet voice in the back of her head which voiced her doubts about the Code and herself said "Shepard was right. Perhaps you have forgotten what it's like to care about people before the code."

Samara pushed the voice aside. For now, she would make good on her promise to Shepard. She would find out what Phora had been up to and she would notify Gwen. Then, she would wait. What Gwen did with the information would determine whether the Code would require a confrontation between the two of them. If it came to that... Samara had never liked Phora but her skills were undeniable. If it came to a confrontation between herself and Commander Shepard, she would be sure to make her peace with the Goddess before she entered it.  
* * * *  
In an aircar which was quickly speeding away from the hideout, Commander Shepard was wrestling with many of the same questions. She had always been secure in her confidence that she was, at the root, a good person. But, she knew, a good person didn't tie a close and well-respected friend to a chair and beat them. She didn't know what had come over her. After she had assessed the bodies of the intruders, she want down to the safe-room. There, she found Athena sleeping peacefully, one tiny, blue fist tucked up under her chin. When she saw that sight, a deep and primal part of her brain, a part she had always worked diligently to control had burst into life. She knew that, above everything else, she needed to protect this spark of life in the vast and empty galaxy. She had conceived, planned, and executed her plot in an utter daze. She barely remembered accessing Liara's databases on Samara's recent movements and the arms-dealer's location. She had watched herself composing the message to Samara, then to the arms-dealer like she might watch an anti-hero in a particularly dark action vid. The only part of the evening she remembered clearly was setting up and taking the two shots she had fired. Even in her state of primal wrath, her years of experience behind a rifle had managed to assert themselves.

"So much to be proud of. You can kill surrendering opponents and shoot friends in the back." She thought as her mood grew a few shades blacker.

She stopped her mental debrief there. Every time she thought about her interrogation of Samara, she grew nauseous.

She saw a public parking platform and pulled over. She was in no state to be driving.

She half fell out of the aircar and stayed on her hands and knees, coughing for a long time. Eventually, her swarming thoughts overcame her, as it had been threatening to do all night, her stomach emptied itself.

"Well, well. If it isn't Commander Shepard." A sarcastic voice said from behind her car. "Seems we've both come a long way."

Instantly alert, Commander Shepard came to her feet and whipped around. She was alone.

"Who's there?" She called out, laying a hand on her pistol.

"Me" the voice said as Keeper-Overseer 7 flickered into view. "It occurs to me that perhaps the galaxy at large is not as safe for my kind as the Citadel. Frustrating though you may be, you are nowhere near as annoying as the rest of the meatbags I've encountered. Perhaps if I accompanied you, you might be able to provide some measure of safety in return for my many, many skills."

Gwen considered the Keeper for a long while. She didn't know what to make of it. However, the keepers were renowned for their mechanical skills. Perhaps she would be getting the better end of the deal, especially if her plan to secure her family didn't go smoothly.

"Okay, get in." she said.

"Splendid. You'll forgive me if I insist you set the auto-pilot. You are not in a fit state to be handling a several-hundred kilogram chunk of steel traveling at several-hundred kilometers per hour."

"Yeah. Sure." Gwen said.

At her command, the rear seats of the car stowed themselves, expanding the cargo area to a size which could accommodate the keeper, slid into the drivers seat, and set the auto-pilot for the Thessia City spaceport.


	6. A Tactical Withdraw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the exposition dumps in this chapter. I'm basically trying to lay out a non-canon back-story so I can refer to it later. Push through. Things are about to get good.

While Gwen was off doing Goddess knows what, Liara and Atheyta were busy locking down the house. Everything was either thrown out or put in storage in the panic room buried in the bedrock below the Azra Valley. Liara knew that, though they would return, it might be a very long time in coming. With Glyph's help, she uploaded all her feeds as the Shadow Broker into an experimental computer model which she had hacked together from various prototypes she had "aquired" from various governments and NGO's. Instead of the formidable bank of monitors she had needed just a few years ago, she now had everything she needed in what was, to all appearances, a regular, if high-end laptop. When they had packed what they were taking and stowed or disposed of what they weren't, they packed the SUV model aircar which, Shepard had ensured, could hold all their bug-out supplies with room for passengers. Atheyta and Liara climbed into the front seat while Glyph entertained Athena.

"Liara," Atheyta asked "where are we going?"

"To the spaceport to meet Gwen. You know that."

"No, I mean after that. You know how relentless the Justicars are. If they're after you, I'm not sure you can run far enough."

"We're not running. It's just... just a tactical withdraw. We'll catch our breath, regroup, make sure Athena's safe, and then we'll hunt everyone who wants to hurt her to extinction."

Atheyta was silent for a long time. When she finally spoke, she said "I'm proud of you, you know. The Citadel becomes too hot and I run off to Thessia. But you, Goddess girl. I don't know if it's your mom, your grandparents, or Shepard's influence but you... You've got spine. More than I ever had."

"Father, don't say that. You've done fine."

"You know, the hollow reassurances get old around the 50 year mark. I'm way more than an order of magnitude away from that."

Liara didn't know how she was supposed to respond so they drove on in silence.

When they arrived at the spaceport, Liara sent a command through the aircar's conn, lowering the cargo door of their private spacecraft. The transport frigate was no Normandy but it was entirely serviceable, especially since it could be crewed entirely by Glyph. Gwen had named the ship Serenity after a ship in one of her beloved classic human sci-fi TV shows. She landed in the cargo bay and closed the bay door.

Atheyta, Liara, and Athena settled into the ship while Glyph prepared for takeoff.

"Where is she?" Liara asked herself after night had well fallen.  
* * * *  
At midnight, the cargo bay door opened and their other car slid into the cargo bay.

"Gwen!" Liara yelled when the roof slid back and Gwen slipped out. "What happened?"

"Nothing... I don't want to talk about it."

Liara nodded. Gwen would tell her in her own time.

"I need to make a few calls. Let's go ahead and go." Gwen said.

"Where?"

"I was thinking about that. I think our best bet is Grissom Station."

"Setting the course, Commander." Glyph said over the intercom while the ship began to move.

"By the way, I picked up a passenger." Gwen said as the Keeper exited the car. "Keeper, you have the run of the ship. Just don't mess with her. Liara, I really need a shower and some company. Can you oblige me?"

"Of course." Liara said, taking Gwen's hand.  
* * * *

Gwen was at the command console when Grissom Station came into view. As Grissom Academy was by far the best equipped and least damaged space station to survive the Reaper War, it had quickly been re-purposed to take over from the now-destroyed Arcturus Station as the Command and Control Center of the Alliance. At it's heart, Grissom Academy remained, but it now cohabitated with the Alliance millitary and civilian governments as well as the many buisnesses which had flocked to the station in the Post-War recovery years.

When prompted by station command, Gwen gave her Spectre and Alliance credentials and requested permission to dock. It was duly granted and Gwen allowed the Serenity to drift into the allocated docking bay. She was greeted by a large and well-armed contingent of military police.

"Is there a problem, Lieutenant?" she asked, addressing the OIC of the contingent.

"No, ma'am. We've had a few security issues and we've needed to tighten down security. This" she indicated the squad waiting at the bottom of the cargo ramp "is standard operating procedure until threat level drops. You've been fast tracked, though. This shouldn't take more than a minute."

The MP's proceeded to log all the weapons aboard the vessel and ensure that they were properly secured. They asked a few questions but didn't push if Gwen evaded. They blinked at the Keeper but, not having any specific orders not to let Keepers through combined with Gwen's authority, they decided to allow him access to the station. After that, they were cleared through. At the exit to the docking bay, they were greeted by a sizable welcoming party. When Gwen had asked if she could stay with her parents for a while, they had apparently taken it as licence to throw a party. In addition to Hannah and Damian Shepard, Gwen's parents, they were greeted by very nearly all of Gwen's current and former acquaintances who had taken up residence on Grissom.

Ashley had returned to her full time post on Grissom and now stood, with James, in the midst of the now-united Vega and Williams families. Jack and Kaylee Sanders were there as well. Miranda Lawson, Dr. Chakwas, Ken, Gabby, Adams, Cortez, and Joker were there as well. Finally, Wing Commander Farideh Kareem al-Rasheed, one of Gwen's childhood friends who, when last Gwen heard from her, had been Commander a wing of the Orizaba's fighters defending the Crucible. Before that, they had been friends and, eventually, foster sisters through high school and college until different deployments with the Alliance had separated their paths.

Gwen hugged her mother and bent to kiss her father. She had to bend to accommodate the wheelchair he had occupied since a turian anti-personnel mine had removed his legs during the First Contact War when Gwen was barely older than Athena was now. They made their way to the station's long-term residential sector where Gwen and her family would be staying for the foreseeable future.

The apartment where they were staying belonged to one of Liara's contacts who had been permanently reassigned to Earth. The comfortable rooms were completely secure against electronic surveillance and had state-of-the-art security. The entrance was guarded by a squad of MP's as, for the duration of the housewarming party, it would have a higher concentration of war heroes and VIP's than anywhere outside of Grissom Station outside of the Command and Control Center.

It didn't take the party long to get fully underway. Gwen was standing with Ashley, James, and Damian around a grill on which Damian was cooking half a dozen ribeyes.

"You have to pan-sear them first. It traps in all the juices." he was expositing to a somewhat bored looking James.

"Yeah, that's what my dad always said." Ashley replied.

"I meant to ask you, Ashley. You maiden name is Williams, Gwen told me. Are you any relation to a Gunnery Sergeant Charles Williams?"

Ashley was taken somewhat aback. Usually people asked her about her grandfather, General Michael Williams.

"Umm, yes. He was my father."

Damian looked down and shook his head.

"God has a sense of humor." he said after a long moment. "When I was Captain Shepard, I had this one high-speed sergeant in my Company. After I lost my legs, he pulled my ass off the line; and when his father surrendered to the Turians at Shanxi, I persuaded him not to resign his command. When Gwen mentioned she had a Williams on her ship I couldn't believe it might be _a_ Williams so I didn't even ask."

"God has a sense of humor." he repeated in closing. "Ooh, the steaks are done."

"Well. That's... something" Gwen said in reply to Damian's revelation.

"Yeah. I guess God does have a sense of humor." Ashley responded.

"...yeah." Gwen said, frowning.

Gwen though back to the day, long ago, on the Normandy SR-1, when she and Ashley had briefly discussed their shared faith in God. So much had happened since then, though.

"Is something wrong?" Ashley asked, seeing Gwen's face turn troubled.

"No, it's just... God and I aren't exactly on speaking terms nowadays."

Ashley bit her lip. The awkward silence stretched longer and longer until Gwen mumbled an excuse and went off to join a different group.

She wandered over to where Farideh was surrounded by Joker, James, Miranda, and Liara. She was recounting the story of how she came to be Gwen's best friend. Her friend had already recounted how, after her mother had signed up to have experimental gene mods tested on the yet-unborn Farideh in exchange for desperately needed cash, she had grown up impoverished in the capital and only large city on Mindoir.

"So, I'm sure you all know this part of the story. Batarians, slavers, fun shit. So there I was, backed into an alley with a bunch of the four-eyes closing in when boom, a bunch of marines steamroller the slimy fucks. They hauled me and a bunch of others into a shuttle and took us up to the SSV Einstein where I met Hannah. I told her about how I wanted to get back at the mother fuckers who smashed up my home. Anyway, we got sent back to Arcturus until they could sort out what to do with us and someone" she cast Hannah a significant look "managed to get me into the Alliance child care program for the kids of sailors and marines on deployment and that's where I met Gwen.

It took us the longest time to actually get to know each other. We were both really quiet kids and we were both bullied pretty badly. Gwen's mom was her unit's XO and she had, shall we say, an unorthodox leadership method. One where she actually cared about and talked to her subordinates. Sound familiar?" she glanced significantly at Gwen "Anyway, a lot of her troops were assholes who didn't respect that kind of leadership and they bitched about it at home, around their kids so when the XO's daughter comes into class... well, if those troops were assholes, their kids were far worse. 

As for me, I was famous... or maybe infamous. The backwater colony kid, the muslim, the kid with the scars, the kid with the illegal gene mods (the doctors told me they weren't dangerous, by the way, just illegal), I heard more slurs than you could imagine. I tried fighting back but these kids knew how to game the system and I always ended up in trouble. Unfortunately for them, they were in a class with the master of gaming systems. One day, just about all the harassment stopped cold. To this day, I don't know what Gwen did." She looked at Gwen.

"And you never will." Gwen finished.

"Anyway" Faredeh continued "she managed to get the bullies off of me but we still didn't talk much... or at all for about another six months. Until combatives day in PE class. See, Gwen is, and I believe this is the technical term, a mother-fucking ninja. I actually think that was her nickname at LDAC for a while. See, when her Mom was deployed, Damian here was in charge of her education and before he ever let her so much as touch a weapon that goes bang, he insisted that she master unarmed and then edged weapon combat. So she did. But she hadn't been raised on the streets of Mindoir City. Up to this point, she'd never actually fought for her life and she didn't have a muscle density which had been jacked up to eleven by some psyco gene therapist.

So she's tearing up the other kids and I'm watching her carefully. When I step up, she realizes that I'm not like the others, She takes it nice and slow, feeling me out. We went three rounds with barely a serious blow landed. Then, all at once, we both go at it. Kicks, punches, the whole shooting match. Then, she lands a straight shot right to my nose and the next thing I know, she's on the ground in front of me with a broken forearm and a dislocated shoulder. We both landed in med bay, apparently she had given me a concussion on top of the broken nose. When she came out of surgery and anesthesia, the first thing she does is come up to me. I though she was going to kill me but she starts gushing about how amazing the fight was and how we just had to go to the gym sometime so she could get a good look at them. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I had ever been complemented. Ever. My biomom spent most of her time high as a kite and my biodad... paid cash."

The story was cut short then by Damian calling them to the table.


	7. Another Day, Another Party... Wait, Party? No, I Meant That Other Thing

"Yes, Admiral. I understand. If you reconsider, let me know." 

"I'm sorry, Commander. That's the best I can do." Fleet Admiral Hackett replied.

In the past three months, Gwen had been hired as a consultant to Alliance Special Forces and was trying to find a posting where she could continue her investigation into the Justicar attack. But, the Alliance had problems of its own and couldn't commit resources to fighting as formidable and politically untenable a foe as the Justicars.

"Will you be at the party later?"

"I'm not sure, Commander. I'll try."

"Okay, hopefully I'll see you there."

Gwen left Alliance HQ and set off for her parents apartment. "The best and worst thing about having four stars on your shoulder", Hannah informed Gwen at every opportunity "is not having to deploy on shipboard." As such, Gwen as able to enjoy a Shepard Christmas for the first time in years.

The Christmas Eve party was attended by the same people who had attended the housewarming sans Miranda, Farideh, Ashley and James who had been deployed. Gwem chatted amiably with the attendees for a while and when the party was beginning to wind down, she loaded a stasis-tray with two plates of food. The tray would keep the food still and warm in-transit. Then, she grabbed a chess board and headed to the station docks. Once there, she boarded a shuttle and set a course for the ADX Florence, the prison ship which the Alliance kept for especially important or high-risk prisoners.

Gwen boarded and submitted to a weapons scan. The scan came up clean and she was permitted to access the visiting area. Once there, she was greeted by a face much older than the three years which had passed since last she had seen it.

"Oleg." she said, simply.

"Commander. It's good to finally see you again, face to face. I saw them taking your clone down to supermax. She seemed a charming woman."

"Yeah. She's great, isn't she." Gwen replied.

She shuddered at the thought of her clone. After plunging several stories, she landed on the roof of a particularly high apartment complex. As such, she came away from her suicide attempt with only broken legs and spine. Gwen had been told that she would never walk again and that the nerve trauma was too severe for even prosthetic or cloned tissue legs to function properly. Not that she had anywhere much to go in the 77 square foot cell where she would be spending the rest of her life.

"I believe this is where we left off?" the former Cerberus General asked.

Gwen inspected the board. Shortly after his detention, Gwen had extended him an olive branch in the form of the notation for a common opening in chess. He had responded in kind and, halfway through their first (very short) game of correspondence chess Gwen began sending him non-classified updates on the war and personal notes. Gwen came to respect Petrovsky's reasons for joining Cerberus even more than anyone she had spoken to except those who joined explicitly to assist her.

"Yeah, that looks about right." Gwen said. "Sorry for the GUI. I doubt they'd let me bring your stone set in here."

"You have my chess set? That asari barbarian didn't destroy it?"

"Hey, I'm married to one of those barbarians."

"Unless your lady wife or miss T'Loak demonstrates a knowledge of the Greek language, I stand by that characterization." Petrovsky said with a smile "all joking aside, I believe Aria was the one insisting that you pull life support from thousands of innocents on Omega. I have naught but the highest respect for the asari. Their mastery of asymmetric warfare is truly breathtaking. Aria is a different matter. Ah, wonderful. I've missed Christmas turkey. Complements of Damian, I assume?"

"Yeah." Gwen replied, making her move.

They continued eating, talking and playing for nearly an hour. When the one hour of allotted visiting time was nearly over, a blaring alarm sounded and group of guards crashed into the room, weapons drawn.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked.

"Someone's pulling a breakout. A boarding shuttle just cut through the hull outside the supermax wing. They're focusing on breaking out former Cerberus operatives, or they seemed to be before the wing went dark. We need to get the two of you out of here."

The two of them followed the group of guards but, in the reception area, they came under fire.

Gwen dragged an injured guard behind a desk and took his weapon before returning fire on black and green clad CAT6 mercenaries.

"Oh, bloody hell." She thought to herself as she saw a large group of people she'd seen jailed including Maya Brooks and her clone running (or, in the clone's case, wheeling) through to the shuttle bay.  
* * * *  
"That bitch is here. Behind that desk." the clone muttered to Brooks.

"There will be time enough to worry about her, sweetheart, after we escape and regroup." Maya replied.

They ran towards the shuttle their insider had told them Shepard had brought in. When they boarded, the clone shouted into the radio "This is Commander Shepard. We're coming out. Do not fire. Repeat. DO NOT fire!"

After a moment, the radio crackled to life and someone said "Understood, Commander. Come on out."

The clone breathed a sigh of relief and wheeled herself back to the crew area. "Free at last." she whispered.

"Not quite." Maya said before kicking the wheelchair and the clone out the open cargo door.

"What the hell!?" the clone asked, looking up at Maya from the floor with murder in her eyes.

"Please, once they hear you've escaped, the first thing they'll do is demand biometric verification before they permit you to sneeze and anyway, you already failed me once, I'm not paying for you to get all the cybernetics she's had. You've served your purpose. Now, you're just a liability" Maya shouted as the shuttle lifted off and the door closed. 

Through the last slit in the cargo door, she managed to spit right in the clones face. She screamed in frustration and then began to sob. That was how Commander Shepard found her after dispatching the last of the CAT6. The silky black hair was unkempt and streaked with gray but, even if she hadn't recognized it, she would have known her from the wheelchair close by. 

Gwen slowly crossed to the pathetic figure. she knelt next to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. The clone turned her tear-stained face towards Gwen. Fury burned for a moment in her eyes before it was drowned by despair. Gwen doubted she had ever seen anything so pitiable in her life. She embraced the clone who continued to weep freely.

When marines arrived to secure the prison, requested on Spectre authority that the clone be released. The marines began to protest but Gwen's expression was one of steadfast determination which smothered their protests.

While on the shuttle, Gwen sent out a general notification that biometric verification be required before her orders were to be taken. Halfway to Grissom Station, the clone fell into a troubled sleep. Gwen crossed to the first aid kit, pulled out a light sedative and administered it. The clone wouldn't awaken before being properly tagged.  
* * * *  
It took the clone a while to assess her surroundings. She wasn't on the poured concrete bed she had slept in for the last three years, she was in a soft, warm bed which tempted her to continue sleeping as nothing had in... well, forever. She fought the impulse but, eventually, succumbed.

When she awoke again, she felt refreshed as she hadn't in years. She rose and turned on the lights. Her prison clothes had been taken so she maneuvered herself into her chair and crossed to the dresser where she found a variety of clothes that she normally wouldn't be caught dead in but which fitted well. Maya must have made do with what ever... she... could... MAYA.

When the memory of Maya's betrayal flooded back to her, everything clicked into place. The stupid but well-fitting clothes, the stupid model ships, the memory of the face she saw in the mirror every day.

She checked the bedside table and, YES. The bitch's pistol. She didn't know what she wanted with her, but she wouldn't get it. She put the gun to her own temple and pulled the trigger. The gun beeped loudly, twice. Then, a shock from her wrist made her drop the weapon. That called her attention to the bracelet on her wrist. She recognized it as an electronic monitor. As long as it was on, she couldn't use weapons, unauthorized terminals or just about anything which might help her escape and her position could be pinpointed down to the nanometer.

"I know you're moving around in there. There's food out here if you're interested, and would you be so kind at to put the pistol back where you found it?" an all too familiar voice at the door said.

The clone glared at the door, then the pistol, then pulled on some nondescript clothes and wheeled into the next room, leaving the pistol on the floor as a small act of rebellion. In the next room, she saw a table laid out with simple food but, after years of prison food, it made her mouth water. Already seated at the table was... her. The clone was shocked at how much she had changed. The black tank-top she wore revealed the seam where her mechanical arms met her organic torso and her face was permanently marked in a way which couldn't be concealed by the black ridges of her control interface. Her expression was one of careful neutrality.

"Good morning. Please, eat." she said.

The clone wheeled cautiously to the table and began to fill a plate.

"What do you want me to call you?" Gwen said.

"My name is Shepard." the clone growled.

"Well, of course it is. We're biological twins. But I'm only known as that because the Alliance loves last names. Do you have a first name?"

For the first time, the clone broke eye contact. She glared at her plate.

"What do you want, bitch?"

"Your help, and to help you. Do you want to her more? If not, your cell is still furnished."

"Go ahead." the clone muttered.

"Maya Brooks is gone. By the time the defensive fleet caught on, they had met up with a cruiser and jumped to FTL. Maya took a lot of nasty people with her. People who, unlike you, are far better off rotting in prison."

"Why do you say that?" the clone interrupted.

"Those people are the scum of the Earth. Unrepentant members of Cerberus who had cheerfully slaughtered countless civilians just because they were aliens and who will gladly do so again now that they're loose. Violent revolutionaries, the kind who have sent mailbombs and envelopes full of weaponized diseases to politicians who stood in their way. Slavers, mercenaries, and murderers. Trust me, they deserved to be on that station."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, why do you say I'm better than them."

"I don't. I say you deserve better than them. What you did, you never knew any better. Maya controlled every last thing which went into your brain while you were being grown. Hers wasn't exactly an unbiased perspective. It's possible that you won't choose to better yourself and if that turns out to be the case, I'll lose no sleep over the thought that you're safely in prison. But I'm willing to take a risk that you can and will choose to be more than what you are. You've seen what Maya is, what you'll become if you pick the same path as her. Using people than throwing them away when they cease being useful. Never trusting anyone. Never letting anyone close. If you want to walk that path, I won't stop you, I can't stop you. But I can promise you that you'll die cold and alone. I can also promise you that it isn't too late. You aren't going to change over night, no matter what but if you try, if you really try, you can change."

"What... what do you want from me." the clone said. Gwen's words had bothered her and she didn't know why.

"Whatever you can give me. If you know anything, saw anything, or heard anything which can help me get to Brooks and the people she released before they hurt anyone, tell me."

"Why should I?" she asked.

"Because, if you do, I can have you released... and because I have a... friend who might be able to give you your legs back."

The Clone regarded her flatly for a few moments. She didn't see so much as a flicker of dishonesty in the forest green eyes.

"I have one more condition."

"I'm listening." Gwen said, arching an eyebrow.

"When you go hunting Brooks, I come with you... and when the time comes, I'm the one to put a bullet in her brain."

"When the time comes Brooks' life is yours to take... if you want it."

"I will want it."

Gwen raised her omnitool and spoke into it. "She'll cooperate." she said.

A military police officer entered the room and took the seat which Gwen vacated. He set a recording device on the table and began his interview.

"Now then miss..." he looked at the clone, then at Gwen who had settled in the corner of the room.

Gwen regarded the clone for a moment.

"Jane." She said "Jane Shepard. Does that suit you?"

The clone looked at her for a while then nodded.

"Very well, miss Shepard..."  
* * * *  
When the interview concluded and the MP left, Gwen crossed to Jane, smiling and said "Come on. You get to experience your very first Shepard Christmas. Trust me, you're going to love it. Just give me a second to get changed."

When she emerged, she was wearing a ridiculous tweed suit, suspenders, a bowtie, and a fez.

"What the hell?" Jane asked.

"Don't worry about it. It's a family tradition."

Fortunately, the Christmas Party was much smaller than the Christmas Eve party had been. Only the Shepards, Liara, Atheyta, and Athena were in attendance. Unfortunately, hands started straying for weapons when a second Gwen entered the room. Because they didn't shoot on sight, Jane surmised that they had been warned. That didn't make her feel much better since everyone was giving her looks which suggested that Gwen's word was the only thing between herself and a hole in the head. Jane decided against backing down and returned equally hostile looks.

Gwen acted willfully ignorant of the tension in the room but no one relaxed. Finally the tension broke when Athena came up to Gwen and asked. "Daddy, why are there two of you?"

"Because," Gwen said, putting her fez on to Athena "This is your Aunt Jane."

Jane looked at Athena and Athena looked right back. There was a trusting innocence in her eyes which Jane had never seen in her short life. Athena walked over to Jane and offered her the fez. Jane looked at the hat, took it and handed it back to Gwen. Gwen set it down and the tension in the room thawed slightly.

The party continued in much the same manner through dinner and opening of presents, until it ended with the family sitting down in front of the television. This, at least, explained Gwen's outfit. The main character of the show they watched was dressed in the same, ridiculous fashion.

"What the hell was that?" Jane asked as the credits rolled.

"Doctor Who... A Christmas Carol. Seriously, you don't know Doctor Who? Christ, what did Brooks do for fun!?"

"If it helps, I felt the same way. You really do need to watch from the beginning." Liara said.

"I've been alive for thousands of years and even I don't know what just happened. You're not alone, girl." Atheyta said.

"Seriously, watch it from the beginning. It's the best thing." Gwen said.

Just then, her omnitool beeped. She had received a message from Admiral Hackett.

"Come to C&C ASAP. Bring the clone."

"Jane." Gwen replied.

"Jane, Admiral Hackett needs us. He says it's urgent. The Doctor will still be here afterwards."

The two of them left.

"Well. That was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life." Hannah said.

"Yes... there were two of them... and one of them tried to kill us three years ago." Liara said.

"No, no, not that. A lot of people tried to kill us three years ago. I mean watching Doctor Who with the uninitiated. What was Gwen thinking."  
* * * *  
"Commander Shepard" Admiral Hackett greeted Gwen. "Thank you for coming by. I wanted to let you know we've cross referenced the flight plan of the frigate which took the escapees off station with intel provided by... Jane. It's not good news. The ship was scheduled to make a supply drop on Valencia."

Gwen winced at the name. Valencia had been, by far the greatest loss to the Alliance during the Reaper War and, afterwards, it's most dangerous separatist world. It was the only world Alliance intel deemed too dangerous to forcibly reintegrate if diplomacy failed.

"So, they're out of reach." Gwen said.

"Not quite. The Council has assembled a joint task force to deal with high-risk situations that individual Spectres don't have the manpower to deal with. Incidentally, the task force is modeled after the actions of the Normandy's crew during the War. They're coming by Grissom for rest and resupply. When they leave, I want you with them, as an Alliance Marine, Spectre, PMC consultant, I really don't care."

"Send me the details: what we'll be doing, who we'll be doing it with, and how long it'll take and I'll give you an answer. Now, why did you want me to bring her?" she asked, indicating Jane.

"So we could take her back into custody." Admiral Hackett said, arching an eyebrow. "Assuming you have no objections?"

"And if I do have objections?" Gwen asked with steel in her voice.

Admiral Hackett regarded her for a long time.

"Commander, I hardly need tell you that she represents a significant threat to the Alliance and to you personally."

"The threat to the Alliance can be mitigated with simple countermeasures and I'm willing to take the personal risk." Gwen interrupted.

Again, it took a long moment for Admiral Hackett to reply. When he finally did, he said "okay. But Shepard, it's your ass if you've missed your judgment call."

"I understand, sir." Gwen replied "Is there anything else?"

"Dismissed, Commander." Hackett said.

Gwen saluted, executed an about face and left the C&C Center. Jane shot a glare at Admiral Hackett and followed.


	8. Just Like Lieutenant Dan

A week after her meeting with Admiral Hackett, the task force arrived on Grissom Station. Gwen had read up on their dossiers and, with Liara's consent, agreed to join them as both a marine and Spectre. The dual role would make it substantially harder for her to leave the group on short notice but their mission was too important to leave ambiguity in the chain of command. Liara wouldn't be joining them but an anonymous message to the groups commanding officer indicated that the Shadow Broker was a big fan of their work and would be providing any intelligence support they required gratis.

Gwen's first face-to-face meeting with the members of the task force were with their scientists-in-residence, an asari biochemist named Jennah T'Laren and a salarian engineer named Fitz Aedra. They met in the prosthetic surgery wing of the Grissom Station Medical Center where, Gwen hoped, Jane would regain use of her legs. Over the past week, Jane had been sullen and withdrawn, refusing contact with anyone whenever possible. Gwen had hoped that standing up to Admiral Hackett on her behalf might have won over a small measure of trust but, apparently, it had not. Gwen hoped that restoring her independent mobility might be enough to crack the armor of three years of accumulated bitterness and resentment.

"The docs told me that my nerves are too damaged for prosthesis to take." Jane said, hating the whine in her voice.

"Trust me, you've never had a doctor like the one you'll have today." Gwen reassured her.

After making her promise to restore Jane's movement, Gwen had tried to track down the prosthetologist who had rebuilt herself after the Battle of London only to find that he had lost his medical license and been imprisoned for "dangerous and irresponsible medical experimentation". Much to her chagrin, halfway down the list of specific cases was "the unprecedentedly extensive reconstruction of war hero Gwen Shepard with untested and likely dangerous Reaper technology-based prosthesis". Unfortunately, the good doctor had died shortly after his imprisonment.

Good luck followed shortly, though. As Gwen was looking over his files on the prosthesis he had created, Keeper-Overseer #7 happened to look over her shoulder and scoffed about "primitive medicine". Gwen showed him the medical scans of Jane's spine and asked him if reconstruction was possible. He had scoffed, rolled his eyes and given her a look which suggested that she had just asked a galaxy-renowned surgeon to take a look at Athena's scraped knee. For a being with no particular facial muscles, the Keeper-Overseer was remarkably adept at communicating his contempt.

"I have had alien doctors. They were the ones that gave up on me." Jane said, noticing Jennah and Fitz.

"Good thing we're just here to observe, then" Jennah said, brusquely.

"Lie on the table, human. This will only take 13 minutes 6 seconds." The Keeper-Overseer said, stepping up to the operating table.

When she saw the keeper, Jane's face changed from pale to ghostly.

"Oh, hell no." she said just before the keeper lashed out, as quickly as a pit viper and struck her in the thigh with one of his arms. Apparently the limb was capable of administering sedatives through skin and clothes because Jane slumped in her chair immediately. The keeper lifted her, demonstrating far more strength than its slender limbs had any right to contain, and deposited her, face down, on the table.

The keeper worked with brutal efficency, slicing open her pants and laying bare the visible deformities of where her spine had been shattered and had been unable to properly heal. He made a tiny incision at the small of her back and fed his arm into the gap. The skin bulged as the arm elongated and split into several, thinner appendages. Gwen surmised that he was following the nerves to find where the damage ended. Her surmise was confirmed as the Keeper withdrew the arm and, with it, the nerves.

"Okay," Jennah said, choking back a wave of nausea "Now will you replace the nerve tissue with some kind of synthetic nerve?"

"Already done. I laid the material as I withdrew the damaged tissue. Now for the fun part." The keeper said with something approaching glee in his voice.

With that, he tossed the nerves aside into a nearby garbage incinerator and tapped a lightning fast command into the prosthetic fabricator nearby. The machine whirred into life and went to work, neatly amputating Jane's useless legs at the upper thigh and replacing them with flash-fabricated prosthetic versions. Gwen checked her omnitool. Precisely 13 minutes and 6 seconds had passed since the Keeper-Overseer had administered the anesthetic.

Not thirty seconds later, Jane's eyes shot open.

"Keep that damned thing away from me!" she shouted, apparently not realizing the operation had been completed.

She fell off the operating table and tried to retreat from the Keeper-Overseer. It was about that time that she noticed the high-gloss, black, fully functional legs where her own used to be. She climbed, shakily to her feet and, unsteadily took one step, then another. She looked to Gwen, then the keeper, the back to Gwen; speechless.

Gwen stepped forward, drawing an extra pair of pants and underwear from her bag. Jane blushed and hastily pulled them on.

"Come on, let's get you to the gym and make sure you're shipshape." Gwen said.

As the left the operating theater, Jane took one last look at her wheelchair. Gwen was a fool for trusting her after everything she had done. Still, she was a fool who had freed her from the prison ship and the prison which was her wheelchair. She was a fool worthy of respect. Brooks had tossed her aside without a second thought. Gwen had done the impossible and restored her mobility which she had thought lost forever. She still suspected some ulterior motive but playing along had brought her this far, maybe it could take her further, still.

At the gym, Gwen sent her through an exhaustive series of exercises which mainly involved her moving her legs in every way conceivable. It ended with a two mile track run. Perhaps it was the endorphins flooding her brain but, for the first time since she had awoken in a Cerberus lab, Maya Brooks grinning down at her, Jane felt happy simply to be. She finished her eight laps and took a ninth for kicks.

"Excellent." Gwen said. "You are fit as a fiddle. Now, down to brass tacks. You know I'm leaving soon."

"To find Brooks." Jane half-asked.

"Not immediately. Several of the people she broke out have surfaced and started causing trouble. Containing their immediate threat is priority at the moment."

"Why? You know where Brooks is. You know she's calling the shots. Cut off the head and the viper dies."

"We don't know where Brooks is. We think we know where she was most likely to leave her ship. From Valencia, she could have boarded a ship to... well, theoretically anywhere. We'll go after Brooks eventually but she's definitely not priority 1 at the moment."

"Fine" Jane said resentfully "So what happens to me while you're gone."

"You have two choices. You could stay here. Buy a house, settle down, or move off station and do so somewhere else; find your place among 'those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.'"

"Or?" Jane asked, arching an eyebrow in the exact way Gwen did.

"Or you can come with me. Fly around, shoot the bad guys, save the galaxy. If you choose to go with me, though, you'll be working very closely with a lot of aliens. You'll need to fight with them, negotiate with them, be frustrated by them without losing your head, and you'll need to do it all with a smile. If you don't I'm dumping you on the first habitable planet we get to and... well, I'll refer you to the ennui of option number one."

Jane buried her face in her hands before yelling "Dammit why are you doing this!?"

"Because you have the potential to do an incredible amount of good for the galaxy. Right now, it's locked away under layers and layers of hatred, mistrust, and maladaptive conditioning. I know that sounds painfully clinical but there it is. The galaxy is a place where you need to cooperate with aliens to do anything. Even if you don't like them, you need to get along with them. By programming your brain in such a way that you hate aliens a priori Brooks was crippling you just as surely as your broken spine or shredded nerves were. If you just question your priors and let me show you that there are aliens out there who are at least worthy of your respect, if not your friendship or love, that'll be a big step towards making you the kind of person I feel I can turn my back to without worrying about a bullet finding it's way there."

"So you're trying to make me you?" Jane demanded, resentfully.

"Oh, God no. That sounds awful. No, I'm just trying to make you you and not what Brooks wanted you to be. You're an interesting person, Jane. You're determined; you call things like they are; you're great in a fight, I have the scars to prove it; you have a strength of personality and a focus on your goals that I can only envy, say what you will about me, I'm easily distracted, even from important things. No, I don't want you to be me, that would be boring and a waste of a good member of the human race. I just want you to see that you can be more than Brook's puppet."

"Fine."

"Fine... what?"

"I'll play your little game. I'll go with you until I find Brooks and bleed her dry. Then... well I guess we'll just have to see."

"Yes, I guess we will. Pack a bag, we move out at 06 tomorrow."


	9. The Gang's All Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bad news: I drank caffeinated Pepsi which I thought was decaf at 10:00 pm tonight. The good news: you get an update early.
> 
> I would like some input here. Please let me know in comments whether you guys are liking my exploration of the Jane/Gwen relationship. I'm kind of liking it but I'd like to know what you all think.

Promptly at 0615, Gwen and Jane entered the shuttle bay. Their shuttle was easy to spot as it was the only own currently parked which was painted with the stylized version of the Citadel which was the Council's insignia. The pair boarded the shuttle. The pilot was somewhat surprised when the most decorated war hero to have ever lived boarded his shuttle followed immediately by an exact copy of said war hero but in his line of work, that was probably barely worth writing home about. He took off and headed away from the station. 

The ship he was headed for was brand new. Gwen could tell because, in the post-war years, the Alliance had stopped making the beautiful craft with swept-back wings and multicolored paint jobs. The new craft were, to a ship, roughly cylindrical and gunmetal grey. Gwen smirked when she say the name painted on the side. Her residence for the immediate future would be the _SSV Daedalus_. She didn't know who had named the ship, but she liked him.

Jane liked the designer of the frigate as well. While Gwen admired the poetry of it's name, Jane was admiring the weapons and propulsion systems. During her "education" she hadn't attached and emotional connection to the data but, afterwards, she had fixated on the specifications of ships. No one, not even Brooks, knew just how much time she had spent pouring over hull displacements, maximum turn speeds, lidar footprints, and newton output to joule input ratios. She had many regrets; not succeeding in killing Gwen, not snapping Brooks' neck when she had the chance, not having the nerve to beat her head against one of her cells walls until she was well past caring; but one of her biggest, and the one she would never admit to anyone ever, was that she had been **on the _Normandy_** and she hadn't gotten the chance to see its famous Tantalus drive core.

By all appearances, though, fate was settling up with her. The _SSV Daedalus_ (what a dumb name) was bristling with what appeared to be violet or ultraviolet GARDIAN point-defense lasers, and new ARCHER ship-to-ship missile launchers which still only existed on paper when she had been imprisoned. Out of the front, she counted no less than three Thanix class thermokinetic weapons systems. Out of the shamelessly inelegant back were thrusters big enough to allow the ship to outrun or dance rings around any of the comely and useless pre-War vessels unfortunate enough to cross them.

"It's a predator class stealth frigate. Top of her line and first in action." Gwen said, recounting the information her implants were feeding her. She was somewhat surprised to note that, rather that her usual bored hostility, Jane appeared to be hanging on to every syllable and longing for more so Gwen kept the information flowing.

"She has ultraviolet GARDIAN laser batteries with Reaper-based material which, in dry-dock, lowered maintenance and cooldown times to the equivalent of infrared batteries while maintaining full power and improving range to the point where they have limited anti-ship capability."

Now Gwen was downright startled. The rapt attention was briefly replaced by a look of what could only be described as triumph.

"Is she planning something?" Gwen thought to herself. Then, she realized. The look wasn't that of a master planner whose pieces were falling into place. It was the same look she wore when she was proven right about some nicety of human history or classical popular culture. "Jane" Gwen realized "is a ship geek."

Gwen smiled and filed the discovery away for future reference. She had never cared that much about ships as long as they worked properly. However, having spent her entire early childhood and most of her working life on ships, she knew more than enough to carry on a conversation without looking like an idiot.

Not wanting to loose steam, she continued. "The Tantalus drive core is half again the size and several times the efficiency of _The Normandy SR-2's_ making it capable of speed, time under stealth drive, and FTL entry and exit times, FTL precision, and speed under FTL that _The Normandy_ only ever could have dreamt of. In addition, she has four auxiliary brute-force drive cores which don't have stealth capability but which will keep her in a fight long after a normal ship would have limped away. Her new ARCHER missile launchers are capable of firing conventional missiles, Avenger class stealth missiles and Shiva class nuclear warheads in addition to specialized munitions for various situations and to top it all off, three Thanix class main guns. All in all, she might not be able to take on a Reaper capital ship solo and win, but she'd certainly have given them something to think about.... I'm sorry, I'm not boring you, am I?"

"No, no. You're fine, go right ahead." Jane said, feigning nonchalance while all the time hoping for more.

"It's cargo bay houses either two Swallow-class heavy troop transport/gunships, up to eight Wasp-class VTOL CAS aircraft, two Chickenhawk atmospheric interceptors, two Claymore class stealth starfighters, or a dozen Honey Badger class unmanned fighters. It can also attach parasite fighters, UAV's and Gunships to clamps on it's belly, though _The Daedalus_ seems to have gone without."

At this point, the dossier on the ship devolved into technical language which even Gwen couldn't make out and then it ended. Fortunately, they were also going into their approach run at this point. When the shuttle pulled through the mass effect field which kept the ship's atmosphere in, they saw that _The Daedelus_ had gone for one of the troop-transports, no more waiting around for the shuttle to buck it's fighter tails when it could just blast them out of the sky; and four of the Wasp-class Vertical Takeoff and Landing Close-Air Support vehicles. While their ships got uglier, the Alliance's shuttles had gotten prettier. The heavy troop transport was 30 meters long, 23 wide, and 10 tall. It had a stealth coating which seemed to drink in the ambient light. It was roughly triangular with powerful engines mounted on lateral and rear nacelles. The engines could be adjusted to point down for landings and takeoffs when full power from its mass effect core couldn't be diverted from shields or to point back for full-speed and maneuverability. 

The fighters each had a one-man cockpit and a rear section, extending approximately one meter backward. At the top of this rear section are a set of wings with advanced turbofan engines mounted on gimbals at the ends, which supplemented the mass effect drives especially for flying and maneuvering when shield strength couldn't be compromised. The fronts of the wasps contained the cameras and sensors which made up their target acquisition and designation systems. On each side of the cockpits were jump-seats extending backward which doubled as landing skids and which could each hold up to four additional troops.

The Kodiak they had been flying in apparently felt outclassed as it dropped them off and left with barely enough time for Gwen and Jane to grab their duffel bags. The matched pair were greeted by a turian and a rare, albino drell whose scales were milky white and whose eyes had a pale greenish hue from the drells green blood.

"Commander Shepard," the turian said "I am Lieutenant Julian Tregarian. This is Operator Inraho Kinrah. I'm sorry, but I was under the impression that we would only be playing host to one Commander Shepard."

"Really? I've corresponded with your CO. Jane will be coming along for intel and combat support. Don't worry, I'll make sure she behaves." Gwen said.

"Very well. We were told to show you to the bridge when you arrived. Right this way, if it please you." Julian said, indicating a door which was clearly marked "BRIDGE".

He glanced at the pair, clearly nervous about Jane, before leading them onto the bridge. 

"Captain." he said, approaching a dark-haired human woman and saluting.

Ashley Vega quickly returned the salute, closed the gap separating her from Jane and grabbing her by the lapels. She pushed the clone against the nearest bulkhead and said in her best menacing voice "I let her on this ship because I've never seen you make a bad call but, so help me at the slightest hint that she's not on our side, I swear I'll put her down myself... I... why are you smiling."

Jane pulled off a glove and held her very organic hand in front of Ashley's eyes and said "I appreciate your candor but you're talking to the wrong Shepard." with the same infuriating smirk which Gwen had been using to drive annoying CO's crazy since she had commissioned.

"I am aware of your concerns, Ash, and I appreciate the vote of confidence. I really do think that Jane will be an asset or she would still be sitting on Grissom Station. If it turns out I'm wrong, you're going to have to get in line. I have first dibs. You may have noticed that I don't like being played for a tool."

"Very well. Drop your gear in the XO's cabin and meet me in my cabin for breifing in 10. Roger?"

"Roger, ma'am."

"Clone, you'll be staying in the crew quarters. You cause me any trouble, **any trouble** and you are off this ship, whether or not we're in port."

Gwen noticed Jane wince when Ashley called her "clone". Jane opened her mouth to retort but Gwen cut her off, putting a hand on Ashley's shoulder and saying, gently "Ash, please. Call her Jane. She deserves that, at least."

Ashley gave Gwen a look which wasn't quite a glare and said, "dismissed, Commander... Jane."

Gwen gave Jane a reassuring nod as they left the bridge.

"Commander, if you'll come with me, I'll show you to your cabin. Operator Kinrah will show Jane to the crew quarters." Lt. Tregarian said.

When the drell had escorted Jane out of sight, the turian said "I didn't want to say anything while she was here but what the fucking hell, Commander?"

Guessing what he was talking about, Gwen said "Jane? She's a clone of me. You remember when I went MIA after the First Battle of the Citadel? They people who recovered me grew her in case I needed spare parts. Turns out I didn't and she got lost in the shuffle. She turned up about halfway through the War with a head full of Cerberus propoganda and not a lot else. She tried to kill me and take my place and, when I beat her, she took a long walk off a short loading ramp. She lived, though and spent the last three years in a concrete cell. When the people we're going after broke out, they used her to get through station security then left her to the varren. I found her there and, well, I'm a sucker for second chances so I decided to bring her along, let her feel what it's like to be on the side of the angels for once. I'm hoping she'll get a taste for it. Now, I think a question for a question's fair. Why do you have an unoccupied XO's cabin."

"Wow. Takes balls of a sort most turians don't have to give your enemies a second chance. Where's our CO? Commander Kirrahe got recalled to Sur'Kesh after our last op. Dalatrass' personal orders, apparently. As for why, well, that's a bit above my pay grade. I mostly just shoot things. Anyway, here's your cabin. I'll send you the ship's schematics and if you get lost, just buzz me."

"Will do, LT. Have a good one." Shepard said, opening the cabin door and tossing her duffel on the ground.

"Ma'am." Julian said, saluting and leaving the cabin. 

Gwen checked the schematics she had just received and decided that she better head on to Ashley's quarters.

* * * *

"You'll be staying with me, Lady Falkara, and Huntress T'Culo. You'll have free access to most areas of the ship but you'll be monitored at all times. You start anything..."

"And you'll do terrible, terrible things to my person. Yeah, I was there the last dozen times I was threatened with gruesome death if I started any trouble. Honestly, it's getting a little tedious." Jane snapped back.

They stalked down the halls in silence until, finally, Operator Kinrah stopped outside a door and opened it. Three of the room's four bunks were clearly occupied. She threw her duffel down on the empty one and glared at the drell who glared right back. They broke at the same time, Inraho turning to leave just as Jane dropped her gaze to examine her hands. She waited for a minute and then, trying her best to control her excitement, rose and headed for the engineering compartment.

When she arrived, she was greeted by a man in Alliance kit who saluted and said "Commander, it's been a long time. Good to have you aboard."

Jane arched an eyebrow and brushed past the man whose nametape read "Adams" and stepped into the core observation deck. She had, of course, seen pictures and schematics for Tantalus cores but to actually see the giant silver orb suspended in mass effect fields powerful enough to crush an aircar into the size of a tin can was a whole different tin of varren-bait.

"It's not Commander Shepard, is it. You're that clone, Jane. Rumor mill said you were aboard." Engineer Adams said from behind her.

"How'd you know." Jane asked.

"Gwen returns salutes. Always. Even if you had, though, I've never seen Gwen look at an engine the way you are right now. If half of what I've heard about you's right, you're probably going to betray us at the earliest opportunity. In the mean time, though, we can always use another hand around here if you're willing to learn."

Jane spun around, not believing her ears. "You'd let me work on her drive core!?" she asked.

"Of course. We'll start you off small, routine maintenance and non-critical systems on the fighters with someone carefully watching your every move but, in time, yeah, you might get to do some work on the big cores."

Carefully watching her every move? For treachery or for honest mistakes, Jane wondered. Still, her every move would be watched no matter what so she might as well do something she enjoyed while she was watched.

* * * *

"What's your game?" Ashley asked herself while glaring at a monitor screen which showed Jane chatting, apparently amiably, with Engineer Adams in one of the engine compartments.

"Command getting to you already? Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know." Gwen said from the doorway where she had been standing.

"You're already on my shit list for bringing her aboard, Commander." Ashley said, indicating the viewscreen which Gwen had a clear line of sight to "You better observe some proper protocol."

Gwen immediately shifted to two feet directly in front of the desk, snapped out a salute and said "Ma'am, Commander Shepard reporting as ordered, Ma'am."

The only break in her perfect position of attention was an almost imperceptible challenge glittering in her eyes. Ashley tried to return the salute but when her hand was halfway to her brow, she broke down laughing.

"Damn me to hell, Skipper. If anyone had told me we'd be here four years ago, I'd have referred them to a psychologist." Ashley said, before succumbing to a second bout of laughter.

"That's just what I was thinking, Ma'am." Gwen said, not dropping her salute.

Ashley didn't so much return the salute as brush her hand across her brow in a feeble attempt. Gwen accepted the attempt and dropped her own.

"Well, ma'am. What are your orders?"

"Gwen, seriously, cut the customs and courtesies. It's getting obnoxious."

"Then, in that case, what are your orders, Ashley?"

"First, I want your opinion. Come look at this. The clo... er, Jane is chatting up Adams. What do you think her angle is."

"Honestly, Ash, I think I know but I tell you this in confidence. If Jane doesn't want this to be common knowledge, I want to respect that. Deal?"

"Deal... I guess."

"She's one of the biggest ship geeks I've ever seen in my life." Gwen proceeded to recount their conversation on the shuttle ending with "either she's a great actor playing a part that makes little to no sense or she's a huge ship geek."

"Huh. I never really though of her, I don't know, having hobbies."

"Exactly. All the heroes of your childhood stories who inspired and pushed you to be who you are now, all the hobbies and friends and teachers who molded your body and mind, she didn't have that. She just had that viper, Brooks, whispering in her hear before getting tossed into a concrete cell where all she got in terms of enrichment were a few heavily monitored and censored extranet feeds and a handful of guards barking orders at her. That's why I'm confident she can be reformed. She's only ever been pushed down the only road available to her. If someone gives her a chance to choose for herself, I think she'll choose right. After all, she is my twin sister."

"That's one way to look at it. Gwen do you... do you really think she'll ever be, I don't know, safe to be around."

"No. I really don't. You can't make a wolf into a lapdog no matter how hard or long you try. You can make it into a wolfhound, though. She's not safe to be around. She's as good in combat as anyone I know.. Better than me. Oh yes, remember, it took you, me, and Wrex to take her down and we still needed an assist from gravity. She's not and will never be safe. But neither are you, neither am I. If you're asking whether we'll ever be able to leave her alone with someone without trying to off them, well, she seems to be standing right next to Adams as he works on some high-voltage wiring. A little slight of hand, a few panicked tears for dramatic effect when she hits the emergnecy comms and the _Daedalus_ is out an engineer and we would be none the wiser. What we have is not a best case scenario but as far as I'm concerned, whenever she interacts with anyone in the crew and they both come out alive and intact, it's a win."

"I trust you, Shepard. You know that, right?"

"Of course. What's your point?"

"I hope this works out. Jane tried to kill us all... she damn near succeeded. But if anyone can bring her around, it's you. God knows, we could use another you kicking ass and taking names."

"The fact that you're considering the possibility means I've already succeeded. I'm trying to reform her and the most important part of that is surrounding her with people who believe she can be informed. That's hard when there's only one person who thinks that's a possibility."

"I see. Can you let her know I'd like I word. I owe her an apology." Ash said, humbled.

"Of course. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, Commander. You're dismissed."


	10. Oh, Valencia!

Gwen and Jane watched the verdant surface of Valencia passing beneath them from one of the _Daedalus'_ observation decks.

 

"The bitch is down there, isn't she." Jane asked, quietly.

 

"If she's not, someone who can lead us to her is." Gwen replied in equally hushed tones.

 

"Gwen... listen. Thank you." Jane said in a softer tone than Gwen had ever heard her use. "Every last man and woman who is aware of my existence would have been perfectly content to let me rot in my cell... except you. You trusted me enough to give me a chance to go after Brooks and pay her back for what she did to me." Jane continued, the hard edge returning to her voice.

 

"Jane. You're my sister. 'Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone' and all that. I co..."

 

"Damnit, no. Gwen, stop doing that. Every fucking time we have this conversation, you act like it's nothing at all. You just act like I'm not a psychopath with a history of conspiracy to commit murder. Take the damned credit. It's your due."

 

"Do you believe in God, Jane?" Gwen asked.

 

"Do I... I don't fucking know. What does it matter?"

 

"I don't know either. I used to think I did but then about a third of the galaxy's population was wiped out. I do believe that if there is a God, though, that he wouldn't approve of me leaving my sister to a fate she never could have avoided but that it was in my power to stop. Maybe I do deserve credit but... do you remember that cartoon movie Athena was watching the night before we left?"

 

"The one with the pre-first contact depiction of aliens?"

 

"Yes. There's a line in that movie. If you'll indulge my comparing a children's movie to the commandments of the almighty creator of the infinite multiverse, I think you'll see the relevance. The line is 'Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind, or forgotten.' You're my family, on a purely genetic level if no other. I could no more leave you in _Florence_ than I could gnaw my own leg off."

 

"I don't deserve family as good as you."

 

Gwen laughed out loud. "And I don't deserve a wife as wise, smart, and beautiful as all the angels of heaven. I don't deserve a father as patient or a mother as caring as mine. I don't deserve a group of friends willing to follow me through the mouth of hell on a long weekend. Most of all, I don't deserve a sister who has been knocked down and kicked at every opportunity by life and who still remains unbroken, unbent, and unbowed."

 

"I _really_ don't deserve you." Jane reiterated.

 

Gwen put an arm around Jane's waist and pulled her close. "Jane, I've already quoted _The Bible, Lilo and Stich,_ and _Game of Thrones._ I'm not sure this compartment can take much more."

 

Jane cracked a grin and threw an arm around Gwen's shoulder.

 

                                  *                    *                    *                    *  
  


Not an hour later, the two were in a shuttle descending to Valencia's surface. They were doing some advance reconisence along with some of the other crew members. Gwen had gotten into a heated discussion with Ashley before insisting on pain of pain that she remain on the ship. As such, they were joined by half a dozen strangers. Gwen had, of course, established a rapport with several of them but, at the end of the day, they had nothing more than a shared uniform to trust in. For Gwen, that was more than enough. Jane, however, shifted uncomfortably under the unfamilliar eyes.

 

When they landed several miles outside Valenica City, the only major civillian settlement on the planet, they found several battered civillian variant makos waiting for them. Gwen, Jane, and Devin Malloy, a marine Gunnery Sergeant were in a mako together and would be reconoitering together. They were all wearing somewhat shabby civillian kit and hopefully wouldn't stand out too much. Devin drove in silence until they reached a seedy dive bar which seemed to be doing a roaring trade. They exited the vehicle and made for the entrance. Halfway there, Devin put his arms around the waists of his two companions. Playing along, Gwen snuggled up to him as Jane fought down the urge to push him away.

 

They made for the bar and Jane realized from the looks they were given that, had Devin not made it abundantly clear that the two women beside him were taken, they would have been ruthlessly harrassed. When they had ordered their drinks, they began complaining loudly to anyone who would listen about how Earth (from whence they had allegedly just returned) had gone to the dogs.

 

Jane, who had spent the entire voyage studiously avoiding speaking ill of her alien colleagues, found the cognitive dissonance unplesant. After Gwen had finished an impressive tirade about all the whorish asari tramps dirtying the streets, all the while displaying as generous cleavage as she possessed from the v-neck of her civillian shirt to whoever cared to look, Jane realized that she felt genuinely bad for, in essence, playing the part of her former self.

 

"The damned bitch really is getting to me." Jane thought to herself.

 

When they had been at the bar for several hours and many of the patrons began to tire of the endless, drunken rants all without attracting the attention of any apparent Cerberus sympathizers, they decided to move on. The pattern continued at several other bars and Jane became much more comfortable cozying up to Devin when Gwen had informed her in no uncertain terms that the marine was happily married... to another man. After a long, fruitless, and unplesant night, they began returned to the rondevouz.

 

Jane was starting to nod off from the late hour and copious amounts af alcohol she had consumed when there was a slight popping and the mako halted in the middle of the road.

 

"Damnit." Devin said, exiting the mako and begining to check for damage.

 

Jane shook Gwen who was lying still and said "Hey. Gwen, wake up."

 

Gwen didn't respond, her synthetic limbs completely limp. Jane tried to exit the vehicle but, to her stunned horror, her own legs wouldn't respond.

 

"Devin, something's not right here. I think Gwen's unconscious and my legs..." she was cut off by a buzz and a thump against Gwen's door.

 

Shortly after, Gwen's door was pulled open and a tear gas grenade was tossed in. Coughing and unable to move with the weight of her artificial legs bearing her down, Jane could do little more than watch through stinging eyes as Gwen's limp frame was hauled out of the car, past Devin's lifeless body, and into another vehicle. Apparently there was more than tear gas in the grenade as darkness soon began to eat at the corners of Jane's vision and an overwhelming lethargy weighted down her limbs. When Jane came to, the other marines from the _Daedalus_ were dragging her out of the mako. She tried to focus but unconsciousness overwhealmed her once again.

 

                                  *                    *                    *                    *  
  


Gwen was lightly dozing when the mako died. However, she became fully aware when she realized that her synthetic or syntheticly enhanced muscles, meaning very nearly all of them, were not responding.

 

"We got hit by an EMP. No one leave the vehicle." She tried to say as Devin left the vehicle. However, her jaw muscles couldn't overwhelm the carbon nanotube enhancements that had been woven into them. She fealt the sting of tear gas caressing her skin but, since her jaw was locked, her eyes were closed, and she was barely breathing; she didn't feel the full effects. SHe watched, helplessly, as she was lifted out of the vehicle, her thumb was pressed to a scanner, and the was thrown into the back of another vehicle. In the other vehicle, she felt a needle inserted into the induction port on her arm and she slid into velvety unconsciousness.


	11. Imprisonment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If the ending here seems a bit abrupt, I decided to cut this chapter in half. Part two should be up before the weekend. Also, for those of you who were wondering, yes I shamelessly ripped off Halo's concept for AI creation. What can I say, it's a good concept.

"Jane, wake up. There's not much time."

Jane slowly came awake. She recognised the face of the Daedalus' captain, Ashley Vega.

"Jane, listen. Gwen's been kidnapped. We don't know by whom. I'm under orders from Admiral Hackket to bring you back to Grissom for immediate detainment. He thinks you were complicit in the kidnapping. It's a good thing this cell's so secure. If only we had managed to find a way to fix the bent bar in the corner. Someone really desperate could reach the command console if they wanted to. Good thing it's genetically coded to only open for the CO and the XO. Even if someone somehow did manage to escape, there's a fully armed and crewed assault shuttle waiting to go in the hanger... you know, for an armed pursuit."

"Why are you doing this." Jane asked Ashley who had made her distrust of Jane abundantly clear from their first... well, second meeting.

"Gwen trusts you. I've never seen anyone act against her judgement and not suffer for it. Don't prove me wrong. Liara had a tracking chip embedded in Gwen's cybernetics in case something like this happened. The shuttle's computer has access to the chip."

Ashley turned and left the brig. Jane looked to the side of the cell and saw that, indeed, one of the bars was bent enough for her to get na arm through. She streached and managed to put a hand on the access point for her cells door control.

"Access: Commander Shepard, Gwen. Granted. Openeing cell #1." a robotic voice said as the cell door slid open.

"About fucking time." Operator Kinrah said when Jane entered the hangar. 

The Swallow heavy transport was surrounded by Operator Inraho Kinrah, Lieutenant Julian Tregarian, and Jane's other roommates; the raloi, Lady Avi Falkara; and the asari Huntress Asha T'Culo. They all piled into the shuttle and Operator Kinrah took the pilot's seat. Shortly after they pulled out of the shuttle bay, _The Daedalus_ jumped to FTL. They broke into Valencia's atmosphere without trouble. However, once they began scanning for the footprint of Gwen's tracker, they came up with nothing.

* * * *

Gwen groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head ached like hell. She raised a hand to it and noted with pleasure that her limbs were working again.

"Ah, Commander. So good to see you're back with us." said a voice Gwen never hoped to hear again.

"The fuck do you want?" Gwen said projecting bored disinterest.

"A great deal. A house on the beach, a galaxy rid of alien scum, and, ah yes, the three years of my life you stole back." Maya Brooks said from the safe distance of a recessed speaker in the cell Gwen was lying in. "And I'm going to take them from you. I can't get the years back but it'll be worth it to break you."

"For God's sake, kill me or release me but don't bore me." Gwen said. In response, the collar around her neck which she hadn't noticed delivered a powerful shock to her spine. She writhed on the cot, screaming as the torture device sent waves of agony through her. When it finally clicked off, Gwen could taste blood. She had bitten her tongue.

She sat in silence in the cell, waiting for something, anything, to distract her. Finally, a slot in the door slid open and a tray of food was pushed inside. Hoving nothing else to do, Gwen crossed to the tray and picked it up. It was about what she expected, grey protien slop, criminally bland. She ate, not knowing what tortures she would need the strength to resist. When she finished, she placed the tray and bowl next to the door. The slot slid open and a mechanical hand pulled the tray back through.

A few more monotonous hours passed until the slot in the door slid open again and a pair of handcuffs slid in.

"Put them on, Commander. We don't want you giving us any trouble." Brooks' voice said.

"Oh, Maya. Do you really want to skip straight to the kinky stuff?" Gwen asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Her only reply was another jolt from the shock collar.

Rolling her eyes when her head stopped spinning, Gwen placed the cuffs around her wrists. She cell door opened to reveal a pair of phantoms with blades drawn. The two silently escorted her to a small room with a computer terminal and a window to a much larger lab. Gwen looked around while the phantoms withdrew and closed the door behind her. She tapped at the computer and it didn't respond.

After a few moments, the cuffs clicked off and the computer hummed to life.

"Commander, I have a problem. The solution is locked somewhere in that head of yours. I need you to help me but I dearly hope you resist. Your associate in the lab next to your room informs me he found something very interesting when he was searching your home."

In the room, Gwen saw the quarian who had been the unwilling accomplice of the Justicars who had broken into her house in Azra half a year ago. He gave her an apologetic look and returned to his business in the other room.

"According to him, you've been a naughty girl. Doing illegal research into AI's. What were you doing, I wonder? Trying to find new ways to hack Geth networks? Making new combat AI's? Our other prisoner doesn't think so. 'Like all of those but not quite like any of them' were his exact words. Of course, he was screaming at the time. Regardless, your personnel file doesn't indicate any authorization to conduct AI research. It's such a good thing I got to you, then. Now you can make AIs to your dear little hearts content and if you don't, we'll torture you until we get our hands on your parents, your little blue whore or your little baby whorelet. Then, we'll torture them and make you watch."

"I was going to put a bullet in your brain. Finish you quick. Now, though, you've threatened my daughter. Now I'm going to give that clone you used a butter knife and put the two of you in a room together. Judging by what she was screaming when we dragged her back to her cell, her mind cracked right in two. Even without her legs, I'm sure she'll find ways to make your end slow and agonizing." Gwen said.

When she recovered from the expected torture, Gwen realized that there was code flickering across the computer screen. It was familiar but she couldn't place it. When it snapped into place, she laughed out loud.

"What? What is it?" Brooks asked.

"This is what the fuss is about? A scrap of code I wrote when I was sixteen and couldn't sleep because I accidentally made caffeinated coffee after dinner instead of decaf? Sweet Jesus, the clone's clearly not the only one who went psycho. This will never work."

Through the blinding pain which followed, Gwen heard Brooks scream "Yes it will! The quarian said so! It will work and you'll make it work!"

When the collar deactivated, Gwen read over the code. She cursed herself for not checking the drive where she had stored it. She had forgotten about the night all those years ago when she finally put the ideas she had floating around her mind into a computer file and hadn't checked to see if the drive where she kept files to valuable or sentimental to delete but too sensitive to keep unsecured. Her self condemnation was cut short by flashes of memory the code brought back. She remembered the idea had been theoretically sound but she hadn't remembered the details and had never bothered to double check. To her surprise, she found that the code would be able to form a functioning AI.

"What you need to realize," Gwen had told a bored Faredeh "is that while an individual program will never match up to a human, a network of subsentient programs working in a single platform can achieve sentience. If one modeled a program for each general type of synaptic connection, mapped them to a sufficiently detailed scan of a human brain, and used the programs to construct a network based on the structure of the brain, you could make a fully functional AI, likely with a notably similar personality to the owner of the original brain."

later in the evening, Gwen had written such code. It was only the barest bone outlines but the entire architecture was laid out. Only the meat needed to be added to the proverbial bones. Gwen seriously considered submitting the code to Synthetic Insights' crowdsourcing lab after she slowly flayed Maya Brooks alive. Because she had nothing else to do and because there was nothing in the code to suggest it needed to be mapped to a human brain, Gwen began filling in some of the excess code. The old code was brilliant but it lacked subtlety and Gwen had learned many more tricks since she had written it. After long consideration, she deleted an entire swath of code, intending to start from the beginning. As soon as she hit delete, the collar activated. Gwen spat a glob of blood onto the floor when the collar deactivated again.

"What the fuck did I do that time?" she asked.

"Do you really think I wouldn't notice you tampering with the code?" Brooks said again.

"Jesus Christ on a crutch. You really are a dumbass. Doesn't it occur to you that I wrote this when I was sleep deprived and sixteen? That code was junk. I don't know if it was full of typos of if I was hallucinating but I needed to restart that bit from scratch. Now will you let me work or not?"

Predictably, the collar activated again. Through the pain, Gwen felt her head hit the floor. When she came to, she was back in her cell.

Gwen lay for a long time, consciously keeping her breathing steady and her body perfectly still. While she lay there, she thought. She wasn't out of options but she was running short. She couldn't give Cerberus 2.0 an AI, especially not of the caliber she thought she could produce. She could, however, stall for a long time without giving Cerberus anything usable. If worst did come to worst, she still had _options_. Not _good options_ but she fully intended to see Athena again, no matter what. _The Daedalus_ had likely sent out a search party and she knew the tracker Liara had implanted in her was still functional but the facility was likely also shielded. If she could drop the shields, her team would be there in minutes. The beginnings of a plan were taking root. 

When her door next slid open, she was escorted to a different room. This one was completely bare. The door was the only break in the blank white walls. 

"Oh, great. Another torture chamber." Gwen thought.

Her suspicion was proven correct when a Cerberus-issue stun baton crashed into her back. Unlike the generalized pain of the collar, the baton, rated to still be harmful through heavy armor, left a strip of blinding pain across her shoulders. The beating continued, with the phantoms striking with ruthless precision to hurt but not cripple her.

"The small comforts of being inexpendable" a small, detached part of her brain quipped.

After nearly an hour of the beating, the pain overwhelmed Gwen and she blacked out.

When she awoke, groaning, Brooks' voice said "Perhaps now you'll be more compliant."

Gwen seriously wanted to deliver a snappy retort but her brain was still foggy.

"Okay" she thought to herself "so these guys are willing to rough me up badly to get me to cooperate. There's that. I may need to move up the plan, slightly."

As she surveyed the marks from her beating, she realized that she would need to move her plan forward. She couldn't survive another beating that ferocious. It wasn't a matter of willpower, it was more a matter of internal bleeding.


	12. Escape

When Gwen was next escorted to the computer room, as she had come to think of it, she immediately began typing with a vengeance. Her arms burned as she insisted that the bruised muscles continue to work as she typed. After several hours and several thousand lines of code, she had a workable kernel. It would look very impressive to a layman and to an AI expert, it would be an intriguing but impractical program. She went back through and added a few flourishes, here and there.

"It's done." she said. "May I go, now."

As she hoped, her escort entered the room and one grabbed the computer while the other recuffed her hands.

"Here's the tricky part." Gwen thought as they approached her cell. Her plan, and her fate, would depend on what her guards did next.

Gwen thanked the God she wasn't quite sure about as the phantoms escorted her past the room. They continued down several corridors Gwen would have staked her life were intended to confuse prisoners. All the while, she had every last one of her sensors running at full strength. Her plan would work without help but if she could just... YES! Someone was really looking out for her today. There were a handful of Geth laborer units in one of the rooms. They couldn't stand up as well as combat units in a firefight but they could certainly wreak some havoc. She activated them on standby mode and maintained contact while she continued scanning. When they reached their destination, Gwen hadn't found any more goodies but she did have a decent idea of the layout of this area of the facility. She had also found by straining subtly against her handcuffs, that someone had put blocks into her prosthesis' firmware to maintain her strength at normal human levels.

One phantom opened the door to the control center where Gwen was greeted by Maya Brooks' grinning face.

"Commander, so good to see you again." she said.

"Wish I could say the feeling's mutual." Gwen retorted. The collar activated.

"Just when I thought this day couldn't get any better, you give me an excuse. Look at you, finally where you belong."

Gwen had fallen to her knees from the pain. She quickly scanned the room. There! She saw the shield controls against the wall. It was shielded against remote interference, but that was okay. After the War, Gwen had sworn she would only use this ability in dire circumstances. Well, if this wasn't dire, she didn't know what was. The room's hardware was shielded against remote interference, but it's occupants weren't. When the leviathans had accepted her as their champion, they had released a small swarm of nanites which had assembled in her iris where they imitated the functionality of one of their pearls. The only difference was that Gwen was the one in control.

Gwen looked and found what she was looking for, a lackey staring, horrified, at humanity's champion being tortured. Their eyes locked. That was all Gwen needed. She plunged into the dark, cold, wet fragment of her brain she kept carefully isolated from Liara when they melded. Her eyes burned subtly with a pale green fire.

_"Go to the console and deactivate the shields. Then take out your sidearm and shoot Maya in the back of the head."_

Her pawn did as she asked and then pulled out her pistol. She looked around the room, her eyes sliding right over Brooks who was still taunting Gwen. Dammit, she had changed her name again.

 _"Good, now put the pistol away and return to your seat."_ she commanded. 

Gwen noticed a thin trickle of blood coming from the woman's nose as she sat back down.

"Are we done, here? Can I go?" Gwen asked Brooks, looking up into her face. Their eyes met for an instant before Maya barked "Uncuff her. I want this thing up and running."

As soon as the cuffs were off, Gwen elbowed one of the phantoms in the throat before reaching behind her head and snapping her neck with a sickening crunch. The other phantom didn't have time to react before Gwen pulled her comrade's sword from it's sheath and cut her open.

Maya was out of her trance at this point and diving for cover and pulling out a compact shotgun. Gwen had the sword but no firearms, armor, or shields. The first shot Maya got off would also be the last. Growling in annoyance at losing her quarry, Gwen grabbed the computer and bolted for the door. She ducked into the room with the Geth units, activated them with instructions to kill anyone who entered the room and went to the closet. She closed and deadlocked the door before jacking the computer into her prosthesis. Once she gained access, she shorted out her collar and loaded the reboot program for her prosthesis to the previous iteration of firmware. Before the process began, Gwen settled into a position she could easily maintain and where she could keep an eye on the computer. Then, she began the reboot process and her entire body went limp.

* * * *

The second the shields dropped, the shuttles sensors lit up like firecrackers. Jane sat in the back of the shuttle. She was wearing standard Alliance battle armor, sans N7 insignias this time; and she was nervously fiddling with the bolt of her own Black Widow. Her thoughts were tearing her apart. The three other people on the planet who cared about Gwen were right here and weren't expecting an attack. She could kill them and just take the shuttle, leave Gwen dead to rights. She could make for Omega, start up a merc band until she had the following to take Brooks out on her own terms. 

It would be easy. She wouldn't even need to look into Gwen's eyes and see the disappointment there. The disappointment. Disappointment. That was such a strange thing to see in the eyes of an officer beholding a failure. In the "education" vids she had been shown in the tank she was grown in and later with Brooks and CAT6, she had seen anger, hatred, disgust. She had never seen any of that in Gwen's eyes. She never judged or condemned. She just let you know without saying a word that you hadn't been the best you could be and that she had expected better.

"Damn her holy eyes." Jane muttered to herself. Who was she kidding. Gwen was the only person in the entire galaxy who had ever taken her on her own terms and accepted her as she was, rather than trying to make her someone else. If she left Gwen behind, she wouldn't start any merc bands, she wouldn't go to Omega, she wouldn't do anything. She would find something sharp and cut her own wrists or, if she didn't have the nerve for that, as she hadn't in prison, she would just pick a direction and start walking until a crazy sand-head or a wild animal or hunger finished her off.

She stepped over to the shuttles small head and regarded her stolen face for a long time. She ran fingers through her hair, turning grey before its time while Gwen's was still silky black. She knew what she wanted. She wanted Gwen's life. Not the military honor and authority she had saught during her ill-fated attempt at identity theft. No, she wanted the love of Gwen's family, the loyalty of her friends, and the respect of her colleagues. Killing Gwen or taking the coward's route and letting her die wouldn't get her any closer to that.

She bent over the sink and, as it had been threatening to do since she had awoken in the brig, her stomach emptied itself. She regarded the vomit with disgust as she turned on the spigot and washed it away. She drank from the sink and returned to her place in the main body of the shuttle. 

She stared at her hands until Operator Kinrah notified them that they were in range of the signals origin. As the cargo bay door dropped, Jane knew it was her time to act. She hooked her armor to a hard point over the door and let her weight rest on it as she shouldered her rifle. She breathed deeply and sighted down her scope. The bases security personnel were running around like ants but the automated defenses were still in their cradles. The shuttles stealth coating was doing its job. As the shuttles miniguns opened fire on the thickest masses of Cerberus, she kept her eyes peeled for anyone attempting to manually fire the ground-to-air defenses. She saw a trooper with what looked like an M920 Cain heavy weapon.

She sank into the calm state she only could enter in the thick of battle. She aligned her crosshairs on the trooper and waited until the shaking of the shuttle brought the rifle directly onto its target. She pulled the trigger with perfect timing. Registering the puff of vaporized blood and brains which replaced his head, she began scanning for a new target. When the outside of the facility had been cleared, Jane slapped the release on her armor and covered the rest of the team as they exited the craft. As she took point, Huntress T'Culo activated her tech armor which she had customized with a large pair of wings in accordance with the human myth of the Valkyrie after which he elite unit of huntresses she had served with was named. Lieutenant Tregarian, who had received training as a saboteur with the turians 26th Armiger Legion before discovering biotic talents and being shipped off to cabal training, would cover their left flank while Jane covered their right. The uncomfortably tall, and fragile Lady Falkra brought up the rear with her four pistols and four swords all near to her four hands so she could use any combination of them as the situation warranted while the end of her nimble tail was tipped with a toxic barb which she could use in sticky situations. When the entire team had exited the craft, Operator Kinrah lifted back off and began circling the compound.

The fireteam charged for the main entrance and began their search.

* * * *  
When her firmware reboot finally finished, Gwen's first sensation was the sound of a vigorous firefight on the other side of the door. She quickly downloaded all files she could from the computer and all other computers she could access from the local network before releasing a vicious virus from her implants cyberwarfare suite into the network and activating her omnitool and melting the machine to slag. The best technicians in the galaxy couldn't recover a single byte from the computer and, after the virus was done, the compounds other computers wouldn't be in much better shape. She tuned her implanted radio to the Alliance battlenet and disengaged the lock on the closet door. The Creberus troops on the other side were too distracted mopping up the geth to notice her before she crushed a centurions helmet with a punch and opened fire with his mattock.The troopers under the centurions command shifted fire to Gwen and away from the remaining geth who killed or injured several of them before being destroyed by the Cerberus troops. Gwen ducked out from behind the table where she had taken cover and finished the troopers off with a few quick bursts.

Curious, she crossed to the centurion. It was fairly well established that, unlike most other Cerberus ground troops, centurions had enough reaper tech in them to be targeted by the crucible. Gwen worked her fingers under the ruined helmet and pried it off. Just as she had feared, the skin beneath it was grey and marked by a lattice of blue lights. Gwen snapped a few holos with her optical implants. She wouldn't put it past Alliance C&C to demand photo evidence and, this time, she would have it. She took a few more holos of the centurion and troopers, focusing on the Cerberus insignias and other distinguishing features and stripped the soldiers of grenades and thermal clips.

She opened the door into the hall and carefully looked out. The cost was clear so she began running away from the command center, hoping to find an exit. She took a few turns and very nearly ran into a platoon of Cerberus. She tossed a smoke grenade she had pulled off the centurion and opened fire as she retraced her steps back down the hall and took a different turn.

She ran through the facility avoiding large groups and picking off small ones. She managed to pull an M-13 Raptor sniper rifle off a nemesis and a short sword from a Phantom. She was thoroughly lost by this point and hadn't found a single door or window. She jogged down a hall and picked a door at random. On the other side... was a dead Cerberus squad and a few wrecked geth units. Despair threatened to overwhelm her at that point. She had survived so long mainly due to blind luck. She knew she couldn't keep up for much longer. Her only hope was that rescue would come soon.

* * * *

"I don't get it. We're right on top of her." Jane said. The transponder did indeed indicate that they were above Gwen. About a hundred feet above her. As Gwen began to move again, so did they. They were about to turn a corner when a shout came from behind them. They dove for cover as half a dozen phantoms appeared at the other end of the hall. Lady Falkara killed one and injured another with her pistols before they cloaked.

"Go. I'll catch you up." she told her comrades, holstering her pistols and drawing her swords.

The three others did as they were told. They hurried away from the phantom squad and began searching for an elevator or some other way down. They rounded a corner into a large hall and dove for cover as a missile from an atlas streaked towards them.

"Shit! I thought we were supposed to be fighting a rouge group. Where the hell did they get that kind of hardware?" Lieutenant Tregarian asked.

"I'm pretty sure our intel was shit from the beginning. No way in hell you could break out of _Florence_ without a lot of outside help. I know, I was there." Jane replied.

"Do we take them on or bug out?" T'Culo asked.

"We left a squad of phantoms behind us and we didn't pass any doors. Only way out is through." Jane decided. "T'Culo, you take point. See if you can't draw off their fire long enough for me to line up shots or for Tregarian to deploy a sentry turret or whatever other goodies you have on you. Ready? Move!"

* * * *

Gwen picked a direction and started moving. She decided to take the corridor which had been blocked by the Cerberus platoon before. She ran down the now empty corridor and then slowed. She peeked around the corner and saw a trio of Cerberus troops. She dropped a phantom with a well placed rifle shot and brought down a centurians shield before tossing a frag grenade down the corridor. When she heard the thump of detonation, she rounded the corner and put a handful of shots from her mattock down the corridor. Either the shots, the grenade, or a combination of both had killed the remaining two troops. She opened the door at the end of the hall and groaned. A full battalion of Cerberus filled the room. Dozens of phantoms, a platoon of guardians, two squads of engineers, a pair of atlases and a detachment of dragoons all supported over a hundred troopers. In the middle of the entire formation was an elevator shaft leading upward.

"Well... that's not good." Gwen thought.

* * * *

Lady Falkra's initial estimate had been wrong. There were closer to a dozen phantoms, not even counting the ones she had killed. Or perhaps more of their comrades had joined them while they were cloaked. She stood proud in a tight ring of glittering blades.

"What the hell are you supposed to be, freak?" one of them taunted.

Lady Falkra ruffled her vestigial feathers and said "I am raloi. Look well for I will be the last thing you see."

Quick as a flash, she whipped her tail around and rammed the barb mounted on it into the phantom's throat. The raloi hadn't yet developed monomolecular blade technology but hers had been a gift from the Council from when she joined their task force. They weren't bound by the ralois technological limitations. The six inch spike punched through the phantoms armor with ease. As the raloi warrior drew her four swords she wrenched the spike from the phantom's throat. The entire maneuver had taken less time than the quip which it followed had.

Her sharp eyes registered the beginnings of movement in front of her while her lashing tail kept the phantoms behind her from causing trouble. She parried the first three strikes simultaneously, a trick her under-trained and two armed comrades would have had difficulty replicating; and lashed out in response. Her tail helped maintain her balance as she lunged with more force than a human safely could have used. She impaled two phantoms through their hearts and injured another in the shoulder while slashing at the throat of a fourth and flicking her barbed tail across the visor of a fifth. She spun on her heels, parrying blows from a few more phantoms who had taken advantage of the opening her tail had left and sliced in a wide arc. Her four blades bit into armor and flesh, not killing any of her antagonists but injuring the four she faced. She reversed the shorter blades she held in her bottom hands and lashed out to either side in quick stabbing motions while she finished two more phantoms. She whirled again and found herself facing an empty wall. She lashed out in wide arcs. She felt the thud of blades against flesh and three pieces of phantom decloaked and fell to the floor.

She roared as she felt a burning pain in the end of her tail. She dove to the side and faced all her remaining opponents face-on. She saw the severed tip of her tail, including the barb, laying next to a phantom with crimson blood dripping from her blade. Lady Falkra was sent into a rage by the sight of her own severed flesh. She charged, four blades flashing and didn't stop until the phantoms were dead at her feet.

She gingerly picked up the severed tail tip, put medigel on the wound and the severed area on the tail, hoping she might get it reattached later. Then, she went after her comrades. She didn't make it far before she overbalanced and fell against a wall. Between the blood loss and the loss of part of her tail, an organ vital for the tall, slender raloi to keep their balance, she wouldn't be much use to the others. She gingerly picked her way back to the entrance. Operator Kinrah quickly spotted her and brought the Swallow down for her to board.

"Where are the others?" the drell asked.

"We split up. I got hurt. I don't know what their status is."

* * * *

Gwen was putting the finishing touches on her plan. She knew that she would never be able to fight through a full battalion sans any cover, support, or armor. So she was using what she did have. The base's security systems were heavily firewalled but its maintenance and other non-critical systems were much easier to access. Gwen had shut off all outflow sewage pipes and was prepared to blow the lights in the room as soon as the pressure in the pipes reached critical levels.

She waited until her omnitool's readings were where she wanted them to be, she modded her sniper rifle to shoot cryo ammo and fired on the pipes running across the top of the room. The cryogenic rounds snap froze the sewage in the pipes causing it to expand and burst along the entire length of the affected pipes. Gwen then sent a command which overloaded the lights and caused them to burst with a series of loud pops. Quickly, she activated her cloak and, thying not to think about what was dripping down on her or sloshing around her feet, she ran for the elevator. She reached the door of the elevator and, not having time to hack it or anything fancy, she ripped it down with a few well placed strikes. Even in the confusion, the nearer troops noticed and began to open fire. The elevator controls were in the very center, where there was no cover at all. Cloaking again, she ran over, punched the ground floor icon and thanked her lucky stars that they hadn't thought to install security countermeasures in the elevators. The doors slid as close to shut as they could achieve and Gwen began to ascend. She had risen no more than 20 feet when one of the atlases shot a missile at the elevator shaft and it shuttered to a halt. Gwen jumped for the roof of the elevator and opened the maintenance hatch.

She crossed the roof of the elevator to the shaft wall and latched on to the maintenance ladder just as a few more missiles slammed into the elevator and it crashed, burning, to the ground floor. Gwen looked down at the flames beneath her and then up at the shaft stretching into darkness above her and began to climb.

 

* * * *

"Ready? Move!"

As Jane barked the command, a thudding came from the elevator door.

"Wait one!" she countermanded.

The fireteam watched as the door buckled in the middle and a black arm appeared where the orange control panel had been a moment before.

"Is that...?" Julian began before being shushed by Asha.

The door groaned and the left section was pried to the side. The fireteam sprung into action as the atlas and Cerberus troops refocused their fire. Gwen, or whatever was in the shaft, knew enough to keep her head down and the reinforced door was holding up to the fire... for now.

The team began dropping troops while Jane pounded the atlas' shield with her heavy rifle. When the Cerberus fire broke to see where the new gunfire was coming from, a blurry cloud flew out of the doorway. A moment later, a knife thudded into the atlas' canvas with enough force to penetrate the toughened glass and kill the pilot. The hatch popped open and the knife disappeared as the pilot flew out. Then, the atlas opened fire on the few Cerberus holdouts.

When the remaining Cerberus troopers were dead, the cloud resolved itself into Gwen.

"Well well well. Here comes the cavalry, an eternity too late." She quipped.

"Bite me." Jane replied.

"Come on. I've had enough of this facility to last me a good long while."

They didn't meet any other hostiles on the way out. As they climbed through the atmosphere, Jane asked "Did you find Brooks?"

"Yeah." Gwen replied "Unfortunately, that was before I found any working firearms or even got my omnitool or prosthesis working at full steam. She's still alive down there."

For a moment, Jane looked like she'd order the shuttle back to the facility.

"Don't bother." Gwen said, preemptively "There was an army on the other side of that elevator shaft. If you tried going down, what would have been left afterwards wouldn't have filled a coffee cup."

"Yeah," Jane said, hiding her disappointment well. "Listen, Gwen. I need your help. You see, I'm kind of wanted as an accessory to your kidnapping."


	13. Trials and Trials

When the shuttle came within hailing distance, Gwen approached the radio and delivered an unprompted stream of authentications so quickly that the station flight control officer had to ask her to repeat herself. When the stations staff finally realized that it was Commander Shepard (yes, THE Commander Shepard), they directed the shuttle to the same docking bay as the abandoned-looking _Daedalus_. They were greeted by a platoon of heavily armed MP's. Unlike at Gwen's first arrival, the MP's weren't shy about keeping their weapons ready. Under Gwen's instructions, the fireteam, Jane included, followed the MP's orders. Lady Falkra was quickly rushed off to a medical facility but the rest of them were disarmed, Gwen's collar was removed, and they were escorted to Alliance C &C. Gwen managed to beg a shower from the MP's before they led Asha, Inraho, and Julian to a temporary holding facility and Jane and Gwen, hair still wet, into a debriefing room. In reality, it was half debriefing room and half courtroom. Ashley was already there and many of the Alliance's General staff, including Hannah Shepard, sat across from them.

"Commander Shepard reporting, gentlemen, ladies." Gwen said, coming to attention and presenting arms. She noted a look of relief come over Hannah's face and Admiral Hackket returned the salute on behalf of the room.

"Commander. Thank you for coming. We're assembled here because Captain Vega, here has been charged with insubordination and willful disobedience of direct orders. Are you aware of any extenuating circumstances relater to these charges." Admiral Hackket said.

Gwen seriously considered asking for legal consult but decided she was fairly safe.

"Sir, I can only assume that you're referring to her release of my... sister, Jane. When you sent the recall order, I was being detained in a Cerberus facility. If Jane hadn't been released to rescue me, it's quite possible that I would still be there. Furthermore, the task force Ashley leads is a Council initiative and Ashley commanded the _Daedalus_ in her capacity as a Spectre, meaning you had no authority to give her orders. I owe my freedom and quite possibly my life to Ashley and to Jane. I mean, lets be honest here. We all know this is about her. During the rescue mission, Jane acquitted herself in a manner which any Alliance officer could have been proud of. Despite being imprisoned and wheelchair-bound for three years, Jane proved herself a capable leader, an excellent tactician, and a fighter skilled enough to hold her own against any enemy. Sir, you can keep trying to find an excuse to put Jane away or you can use her potential as a tactical and strategic resource, if nothing else. Are we done here?"

"I think that's more than enough for us to dismiss this case without the need for a trial. As for your advice about the cl... Jane, I'll take it under consideration. While we're all here, I'd like to know more about this facility where you were held."

"It was on Valencia. It was operated by Cerberus. Cerberus personnel are again being upgraded with Reaper tech as they were before the War. I have holos and scans on my omnitool. The apparent commander of the facility was the Cerberus operative known by the alias Maya Brooks, among others. For reasons unknown, Cerberus had approximately two battalions worth of security personnel. Anything else?"

"Commander, obviously you can't know the exact reasons but do you care to speculate about the nature or purpose of the facility?"

"Yes, sir. I believe that, in addition to Command and Control for Cerberus' operations on Valencia, the facility was dedicated to researching artificial intelligences."

"Do you have any support for that speculation?"

"Yes, sir. While I was there, I saw at least one quarian technical adviser or prisoner, I couldn't tell; and during my rescue, I found numerous deactivated geth units."

"And what aren't you telling me, Commander?"

"Sir, unauthorized personnel might want to leave before I tell you."

The assembled officers, excepting Jane, Ashley, Hannah, and Admiral Hackett left the room.

"Is this being recorded, sir?" Gwen inquired

"Of course."

"May I request that this not be recorded?"

Admiral Hackett considered her for a long time before making a slashing movement across his throat.

"Sir, I asked you to clear the room and turn off the recorders because I am about to confess to a very serious crime. Fortunately, no one was harmed but if word gets out, even the trust capital I've built up might not be enough to save my career and good name. Sir, when I was 16, I wrote the preliminary code for an artificial intelligence. The quarian I mentioned was the same one who broke in to my house on Thessia. Apparently he found my work and Cerberus found him. Cerberus wanted me to finish the program."

"Am I right in assuming that this was during the Great Caffeinated Coffee Incident of 2170?" Hannah cut in.

"Yes."

"So, in between getting our cabin cleaner than it had ever been, finding your fathers PDA which had been missing for a week, and having extremely loud sex with Faredeh; you managed to create an electronic life form and, by so doing, break all the laws?"

"Mom, 'Rita and I never..." Gwen trailed off, massaging her forehead.

"That's what you keep saying." Hannah muttered.

"If we may get back on track, ladies." Admiral Hackett cut in. "Commander, what exactly happened to this program you wrote?"

"I destroyed all copies in the Cerberus base and kept a copy, also in my omnitool, for my personal records."

"Commander, do you mean to say that you have a functioning AI... in your omnitool... here... on this station!?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and, with a long suffering tone, explained. "No. The hardware of even my omnitool is nowhere near sophisticated enough to support an AI. What I have is the program which will compile an AI's software given the right data input and the proper hardware to write it to."

"So..."

"Yes, the station's computers are safe. There is absolutely no way the program in question can spontaneously become sentient."

"Commander, we're going to need to have a long talk about this sometime, preferably with a few... sympathetic Council members in attendance. You're all dismissed. Hannah, take the rest of the day. That's an order."

When the group had left C&C, Gwen whooped and punched the air.

"What the hell, Skipper?" Ashley asked.

"He's going to ask me to make AI's for the Alliance!"

"Gwen, really. Calm down. He's not going to ask you to be making any AI's anytime soon." Hannah rebuked.

"The hell he won't. Trust me, mom. It's all over but the counting."

"Why the hell are you getting so excited, anyway. It's just a computer program." Jane snapped.

"Yeah. To you it's a computer program. And to me, the _Daedalus'_ engines are just big chunks of eezo. When I talk about AI's imagine you're talking about ships. That'll get you into the ballpark."

Jane flushed crimson either out of anger, embarrassment, or both.

* * * *

When they arrived at Gwen's home, they were greeted by Liara.

"Liara, sweetie." Gwen said, going to embrace the asari.

Instead of returning the affection, Liara slapped Gwen across the face. When Gwen recovered from the stinging blow, Liara grabbed her by the front of the uniform, slammed her back into the door frame and kissed her passionately. The kiss lasted more than long enough for it to be awkward for the two observers. When she pulled away, Liara's face was streaked with tears.

"If you ever... I swear, Gwen... Never again." Liara said, shakily.

Gwen didn't say anything, she just tightly embraced Liara. Keeping one arm around Liara's waist, Gwen led the way into the apartment.

"Can you guys give me a minute? Liara and I need to talk." Gwen said. Hannah and Jane nodded and began to busy themselves around the living room and Liara and Gwen made for their bedroom. Before they could make it to the door, a small, blue streak made for Gwen. As she had done so long ago on the porch of her house in Azra, Gwen swepped Athena off her feet and embraced her.

"There's my girl!" she said. "Were you a good girl while I was gone?"

"Yes." Athena replied.

"Good. Good. Listen, I need to talk to mommy for a while. Why don't you go see Grandma Hannah?"

"Okay." Athena said as Gwen set her gently down. She ran over to where Hannah had sat and climbed into her lap.

"So, you're a clone of my daughter?" Hannah said, awkwardly.

"Ummm... yeah." Jane replied.

The two sat in silence for several minutes which felt like hours.

"So... you like ships." Hannah said, slowly.

* * * *

When they finally got some privacy, Gwen took Liara's hands.

"Liara, I know what you're going to say." Gwen began.

They locked eyes and all need for words faded away. They could read everything they needed to know in the others face. Gwen saw the fear and sadness Liara had felt at the news of Gwen's capture and the thought of her death. Liara saw the shame Gwen felt at how she had nearly left Liara to raise Athena alone but the determination to continue to give of herself if it meant leaving a better galaxy as Athena's inheritance.

"Please. I know that you're planning to keep fighting. I won't try to persuade you not to. You think it's for the best and I trust your judgment. But, please tell me. Promise me you'll be careful. Promise me you'll come home." Liara pleaded

"You know I can't do that, Liara. I... I promise." Gwen said.

They embraced.

"I love you." Gwen whispered.

Liara didn't reply. She didn't need to.

"Come on. We'll be here a few more days while Ash and I sort out the paperwork around this mess. We should get the guest room ready for Jane." Gwen said.


	14. AI

"AI... fucking AI." Admiral Hackett thought to himself after the others had left.

He spent nearly an hour pacing the floor of the debriefing room before cursing again and returning to his duties. The problem... or opportunity Gwen had tossed in his lap.

"Fucking AI."

* * * *

As she had predicted, Gwen spent the days leading up to her second departure in as many weeks doing paperwork. She managed to snag a few minutes here or there with Jane, Liara, Athena and the rest of her family but, for the most part, she was stuck doing paperwork. When she wasn't doing paperwork or spending time with (read: sleeping in the same room as) her family, she continued to polish the code for her AI compiler and began laying out schematics for the hardware. She was determined to find a more reliable platform than the quantum blueboxes which had so predictably failed to produce stable AI. She was seriously considering a quasiperiodic crystal based data chip of the kind found in many deactivated Reaper "corpses" which would be constructed as the compiler wrote the code and which should, in theory, provide adequate processing power without the unpredictability of the blueboxes. For the millionth time, Gwen checked her messages for the inevitable message from Admiral Hackett. Instead, she found her orders to be at the docking bay tomorrow evening.

Gwen stared at the message without seeing it. She considered the past week. She had escaped death by the skin of her teeth for the umpteenth time and, on returning home, had opted to spend her free time on a pet project rather than on her wife and child. Gwen acknowledged the email, saved her work, and deactivated her computer. She rose and stretched, intending to make the most of her remaining time on Grissom.

"Done already?"

Gwen jumped and said "Jesus, Liara. Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Gwen, I've been here for half an hour." Liara replied, laying aside the datapad she was holding.

"You... you have?"

"Yes, Gwen. I have" Liara said, slightly exasperated.

"Liara, just so were clear, I've been an asshole, right?"

"Umm...yes. Yes you have. About as much as I was when I refused to join you when you were going after the Collectors."

"Liara, I told you to stop beating yourself up about that."

"I know and I have stopped. Likewise, I'm not going to let you beat yourself up over what is, in the grand scheme of things, a much smaller offense."

Gwen pulled Liara by the hand out of the chair she was sitting in and embraced her.

"I don't deserve you." Gwen whispered, kissing Liara's jawline.

"Of course you don't. You deserve someone far better." Liara retorted.

"I'll settle."

Gwen pushed Liara back onto their bed, climbed on top of her, and reached for the seam of her coat.

* * * *

"Reaper Tech? Are you sure?"

"You were fishing around in my head?"

"Gwen, you were still mulling things over. I didn't need to fish."

Gwen shifted in Liara's arms.

"God forbid I ever think of another girl. Listen, Liara. I'm sor..."

Liara slapped Gwen.

"Gwen, after all the times I've thought of Prothean artifacts or Shadow Broker things... stop beating yourself up. You're allowed to be passionate about your work. Now quit it."

"Or what?" Gwen asked, grinning slyly.

"We can always arrange for a spanking." Liara replied, catching on and mirroring Gwen's expression.

"Well, when you put it like that."

* * * *

Gwen spent the rest of the night alternately bouncing ideas off of and making love to Liara. The asari had nowhere near Gwen's level of expertise in the field of AI but knew enough to understand the general outline of Gwen's scheme, if not the details.

"The manufacturing equipment you need for the data chips probably isn't on Grissom. I have contacts in the Alliance research labs which landed some of the Reaper manufacturing equipment, though. I might be able to lay hands on them. The brains, too if you aren't concerned about ethics." Liara said as they dressed and prepared for their last day together.

"You're the best wife ever. Also, creepy." Gwen replied.

They spent their morning with Athena and Urz in Grissom Station's David Anderson Memorial Park which came complete with grass and trees fed by synth-sunlight. Urz darted over a hill and, when Gwen and her family caught up to him, he was circling and snarling at another varren. Urz snapped at the other and flew backwards in a burst of blue light.

As Gwen whistled Urz off, another voice said "Eezo, down boy."

The biotic varren ignored the command until a biotic field tugged him gently but insistently away from away from Urz who had dutifully returned to Gwen's side.

"Hey, Girl Scout, Blueberry, Jack Junior." Jack said as she saw the group.

"Jack, I would name my firstborn after you in your pathetic dreams, nowhere else." Gwen returned the banter.

"So, heard you got yourself nabbed by Cerberus." Jack said, falling into step with the group.

"That's classified but yeah."

"If it's classified, Sanders shouldn't have been talking so fuckin' loud about it. Shit, Shepard. If those psychos had tried any of their shit, I'd have smeared them across the walls."

"Thanks, Jack. You're a good friend."

"Don't get all mushy on me. I wouldn't have done it for you. I just like squishing Cerberus." Jack winked slily.

"So, Sanders not still riding you about swearing or are you just on leave." Gwen asked.

"Leave... or vacation, as real people call it."

Just then, Jack's omnitool played a loud, extremely explicit hip hop song which was apparently her message alert.

"Shit, I gotta take this. See you around, Shepard." she said, running off.

Barely a moment later, Gwen's omnitool buzzed. She groaned as she read the message she had been spending the past week waiting for. She looked at Liara with sorrow and regret in her eyes.

Liara smiled and laid a hand on Gwen's cheek. "Go save the galaxy, sweetie."

"I'll try to be home for dinner." Gwen said.

 

* * * *

When Gwen reached the entrance of Alliance C&C, her omnitool buzzed again. She stared at it for a few moments in slack-jawed amazement before continuing.

"Why? Why now!?" she muttered to herself.

Gwen's brain buzzed with possibilities as she made for the secure comms room she had been ordered to in Anderson Park. When she entered the room, Admirals Hackett and Shepard were in attendance as well as Miranda Lawson and Kaylee Sanders. Over the secure QEC, the flickering holographic avatars of Garrus, Counselor Svensson, Urdnot Kala and Tali'Zorah floated.

"So..." Gwen said by way of announcing herself.

"Shepard, what the hell do you think you're playing at experimenting with AI!" Tali yelled.

"Not getting murdered by Cerberus is what I was playing at. Not getting murdered by Cerberus is a good thing, right?"

"Of course. It's just that... Keelah, Shepard. If you were anyone else..." Tali said, massaging her forehead.

"I know what I'm doing, Tali."

"Commander, I think it would be helpful if you explained exactly what makes you so confident." Admiral Hackett commented.

"I'm glad you asked. During the Reaper War, as you all know, the Normandy SR-2 was host to an AI named EDI. During our time on the Normandy, EDI consulted me about several major changes she made to her code. One of these was a modification of her ethics subroutines to focus on "loyalty, altruism, and love". At my request, she provided me with a copy of the code and talked me through the changes. Obviously the structure of one of the AI's I propose making would be dramatically different, relying on a more complex neural network rather than the brute processing power provided by Reaper technology but I'm confident that I replicated an approximation of the ethical matrix EDI used. The details would vary based on the brain used as input, with one AI favoring altruism and another favoring loyalty or what have you, but, in general, the AI's would be reliably loyal to their designated... I hesitate to use the word owner but I'm sure you understand, and generally predisposed to look favorably on organic life. Obviously such subroutines could be modified or removed by the operator as circumstances warrant but, even then, there are simple steps that could be taken to minimize risk. In addition to programing, I would recommend a transitional period where newly made AI's are kept hardware isolated until they grow accustomed to the company of organic beings. One of the biggest problems with Synthetic Insights' attempts to make AI is in treating them like VI's who don't factor interpersonal relationships in their computations. These AI's and any true AI would and should be treated as such."

"Shepard, you're getting dangerously close to suggesting that these AI's would have real emotion." Miranda commented.

"Wouldn't they? Is there a real difference between emotion and a perfect simulation of emotion? I don't know. I never took a Philosophy of the Mind class. Regardless, yes, these AI's would, in theory, display as real and complex an array of emotion as any other life form."

The room was silent for a long time.

"In... purely... pragmatic terms," Admiral Hackett began, slowly. "How useful would these AI's be."

"Assuming I've sold you on the idea that they can be trusted not to go all Reaper on us, they would be incredibly useful. Militarily, they would provide unparalleled cyberwarfare support to both ground troops and fleets. They would also be able to preform complex data analysis as quickly as a computer and with the precision of an organic mind. They could manage data as easily as dozens of top-shelf VI's. That's just the obvious stuff. When they get in the hands of the troops on the ground and whatever civilian workers would end up with access to them, God only knows what applications people will come up with."

"So, now for the real question. We're hearing a lot of talk so... can you deliver." Garrus asked.

"Give me a week with the proper supplies and equipment." Gwen replied.

"And what supplies and equipment would that be, exactly?" Admiral Shepard asked.

"Liara knows. The task force is shipping out sooner than you can get them together. Listen, put up or shut up. We're stopping over at the Citadel after we drop in on the hanar. If you want my AI's, send the supplies there. Otherwise, best of luck to you."

"Commander, you..." Admiral Hackett trailed off under Gwen's determined gaze.

"Perhaps you should sleep on it?" Gwen suggested.

"Yes, I think that would be best. Enjoy your evening with your family then get to the _Daedalus_ "

* * * *

Gwen did not enjoy her night with her family. By the time she had returned home, her happiness at the prospect of making AI's for the Alliance and Council had been swamped by the thought of the message she had received. When she walked in through the door, the look on Liara's face told her that she had received the same message.

"You got it?" Gwen asked by way of confirmation.

"Yes. Gwen... how do you want to play this?"

"I'm shipping out tonight. I can't shirk this, the galaxy needs to see me at work. Liara, I think you're going to have to deal with this. Leave Athena with Atheyta or my parents. Bring one of your best teams of assassins, tell them you've been working for the Shadow Broker or something. I can't do this but I can't stand the thought of you doing it alone."

"I understand. I promise to be careful if you do."

Gwen leaned in and kissed Liara.

"For you? Always." she replied.

They ate a tense dinner. Even Athena could sense the charged atmosphere and remained subdued during the meal. Gwen bade her family farewell at their home and made for the docking bay alone. When she ran into Jane, she was surprised to see a bruise on her face.

"Holy shit, how's the other guy look?" Gwen asked.

"A hell of a lot worse. Did you know they literally throw you out of bars for fighting nowadays? Don't worry, it wasn't even my fault."

Gwen laughed in spite of herself.

That night, in her berth, as the stars slid silently past, Gwen read the message which forced Liara to leave the relative safety of Grissom.

"My friend,

Meet where and when we met

Be careful,

Samara"

Assuming she meant Illium spaceport on the anniversary of their meeting, they would be meeting a 3 days from the time Gwen received the message. She prayed that she wasn't sending Liara into the teeth of a trap.


	15. A Tragedy of Errors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this chapter taking so long. RL getting in the way plus my computer lost about half a chapter of manuscript. Between those two, I haven't had much motivation. Here's a short scene to get my momentum going again.

Gwen awoke to the beeping of her omnitool. It said there was a message inbound from Grissom Station.

"Hello." Gwen said, groggily.

"What the FUCK!" Jack's voice came in through the speakers.

As her face came into focus, Jane realized that she had been badly bruised and her nose had been broken. Gwen massaged her forehead.

"Let me guess, you saw me drinking and greeted me with your usual obscenity and punch on the shoulder, right?" Gwen said.

"Real fucking impressive, you remember shit which went down not six hours ago. What the fucking shit, Shepard?"

"That wasn't me. That was my evil clone. I'd assumed you'd been briefed."

"Ha ha. Real funny. I'm going to kill you when you get back."

"Not joking. Ask Hackett. Anyway, killing me? Really? So four years ago."

Had anyone else tried the evil clone excuse, Jack wouldn't have even given them a head start for effort. With Shepard, however....

Jack rubbed her forehead.

"Shepard... if Hackett doesn't confirm that."

"If you can think up an explanation which makes more sense, call me."

Jack cut the comm channel. Gwen lay awake for a long time wondering if she was crazy in trying to change Jane. She considered Jack. Jack had been as bad as Jane when they first met and now... she wasn't a psychopath at least. By the time she fell back into a troubled sleep, Gwen hadn't found an answer but had decided that showing the least doubt around Jane would close her off forever.

Her dreams were haunted by far more frightening questions. "Why do you care? Just ship her back to _Florence_ and let her rot. She would have killed you. Why spend so much emotional energy trying to save her? Duty? To whom? Justice? What about justice for the people she ordered killed or the people who would have died if she had succeeded? Some misguided sense of kinship? Do you really want your daughter growing up in the same galaxy as her?"

When Gwen's alarm awakened her, she didn't feel particularly rested.


	16. Free Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm back after far too long. If anyone's reading this and wants to see more, leave a comment asking after the next update. Those of you who don't write can't imagine how motivational that sort of thing is.

"Oh, well... shit."

Jane's response to the news about her barfight was about all Gwen could have expected. Indeed, she likely wouldn't have been able to do much better if their positions were reversed.

"Damn it, Jane. This is bound to happen occasionally until the admiralty comes up with a good explanation for why there's two of us running around all of a sudden. Just... be careful, okay?"

"Yeah. Shit, tell your friend I'm sorry about the screw up. All right?"

"Yes, sure. Dismissed." Gwen said.

Jane turned and left, likely headed for the engine room.

Gwen checked her clock and swore. She had a briefing in five minutes. She gathered what she needed and headed to the briefing room. She arrived in time for the meeting but not for her usual ten-to-fifteen minute planning session beforehand. When the rest of the ship's officers had assembled, Ashley began the meeting.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we'll arrive at orbit Kahje in approximately one hour. This should be a straightforward "show the flag" mission. We land, we smile and wave, we leave. Given our history, the bombs should begin to blow about thirty seconds after we land so I want eyes pealed and heads on the swivel but there's no need to keep the guns standing by for an orbital bombardment. Any questions before I get into details?"

The briefing continued as normal and was dismissed. Afterwards, Gwen tapped the same team which had previously rescued her from the Cerberus holding facility to accompany her groundside. While the rest of the crew was off promenading, her team would be helping to secure the research and person of a hanar scientist who had come under threat from one of Kahje's more violent drell liberation organizations. As with the gladhanding, they weren't expecting trouble except insofar as any sensible person in the company of Gwen Shepard expected trouble... which is to say, they were expecting trouble.

* * * *

On the opposite terminus of the Kahje-Illium Shipping Lane, Liara was also expecting trouble. As she approached the docking bay Gwen had told her about, her comms unit clicked. When answering clicks confirmed all the teams of Shadow Broker mercs were in position, she entered the bay. The bay had been laid out to put those involved at ease, all machinery and cargo had been cleared away, there was no cover for anyone and there weren't any easy hiding spots. An even playing field. Her time as Shadow Broker had taught her to hate even playing fields.

"Doctor T'Soni. I expected the Commander." Samara said when she saw the door slide open.

"Which is precisely why I came. What do you have?"

"Information... for Commander Shepard only."

"The first thing Gwen will do with the information is share it with me. So what if the order is reversed?"

"I... I'm sorry. I can't trust anyone else with this. It's too sensitive."

"Then you've successfully wasted the time of everyone involved. Congratulations, Justicar. Don't call again unless you actually have something useful." Liara turned on her heel and made for the door.

"Dr. T'Soni, wait."

Liara paused but didn't turn.

"This information, in the wrong hands, could shake the Justicars to their foundations and topple pillars of asari civilization which have stood for tens of thousands of years."

"I'm an information broker. If I couldn't handle sensitive information, I'd be unemployed. Furthermore, during the War, the life of everyone in the entire galaxy depended on me properly handling the information which crossed my desk."

"May the Goddess help me. Here."

Liara managed not to outwardly show her relief that the Justicar had not called her bluff. She turned and took the offered data-pad. She glanced at it before downloading the data and tucking the original pad into the bag she had brought for that purpose. Her skin crawled and she whipped around as the door behind her slid open. Three asari in unmarked uniforms entered and leveled their weapons.

"Samara, you are bound by the code to yield and aid us in detaining Dr. T'Soni for her compliance in the murder of Justicar Phora and her apprentices."

* * * *

Gwen surveyed the lab. It was unusually cozy for it's purpose with many personal touches and holos scattered about.

"This one can not adequately express his gratitude for your assistance."

"Of course, doctor. Do you have any idea why this group might have targeted you in particular?" Gwen inquired.

"This one regrets that he can not help you. This one conducts research into potential cures for Kepral's Syndrome. Even the most extreme separatists should welcome this one's work."

Gwen's eyes fell on a holo of the hanar before her with a tentacle around the shoulders of a salarian who seemed vaguely familiar. Before she could place the unusually dark skin and eyes, she heard numerous shots fired from behind her and the lights began to flicker.

"Doctor, you might want to take cover now."

"What was that?" the hanar asked.

"Trouble. Right on schedule."

Her team took up positions and the hanar doctor took cover in the back of the lab.

The door blossomed open explosively and Gwen's team waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, the doorway was empty. The team waited in tense silence until a distinctly drell voice right behind Gwen said "lower your weapon slowly and you'll leave unharmed."

As the sentence died, Gwen felt the cold of a gun barrel right behind her ear. Against any other species in the galaxy, Gwen would have taken her chances. Against a drell, however, even her unnaturally fast cybernetics might prove inadequate.

"Alright. Don't do anything hasty." She said, slowly lowering her rifle.

The rest of her squad followed her lead as half a dozen drell uncloaked around the room, covering the exits and her team members.

"Against the wall, human. Don't do anything stupid. The rest of you as well."

"Why are you doing this? I was under the impression that the compact benefited the drell." Gwen asked.

"The abyss take you, human. You know nothing of our people." the apparent leader spat.

"Respectfully, that's not true. One of my best friends was a drell. He died of Kepral's Syndrome, the very disease the hanar you're here to kill is working to cure. He told me about Rakhana, the Compact. It may not be ideal but it's far from enslavement."

"Your information is out of date. Four years out of date. After the War, the Illuminated Primacy, in all their wisdom began to reign us in. Their damned prophet apparently thought they should keep their assassins on a tighter leash. It was only little things at first, putting financial or social pressure on drell who didn't want to give up their children and the like but the more they squeezed, the more drell rebelled. The more drell rebelled, the tighter they squeezed. Most drell probably haven't even felt the effects yet because their hanar overlords aren't that stupid. But, keep an eye on the extranet feeds. Soon they'll begin to squeeze the general population and not just the assassins."

"Heresay. But, even if it is true, what does the good doctor have to do with it. He's working to cure a disease which affects all drell."

The hanar leader barked in laughter.

"Is that the shit he's fed your Council? He's a sadistic murderer. He pulls poor and dying drell off the streets, uses their bodies as test tubes to grow organs which he makes a modicum of an effort to modify for resistance to Kepral's before selling them off on the black market. Any actual progress he's made was purely incidental. That's not heresay. We have evidence, solid evidence or else we wouldn't be here. Look."

Something in Gwen's brain clicked.

"No, I don't need to. I believe you."

"I... you do?" The drell leader said, stunned.

"Yes." Gwen crossed to the holo she had seen earlier and slipped it into her pocket. She then crossed to the computer banks, not regarding the rifles the various drell had pointed at her. She easily hacked the server's firewalls and found a wealth of incriminating data behind them. She downloaded it all and strode to the back of the large lab where the doctor was cowering. Her face an icy mask, she grabbed his tentacles and dragged him into the ring of drell.

"Doctor," she said, voice full of courtesy "you have five minutes to gather your things. We'll be waiting by the shuttle."

"Commander, we can't do this!" Julian interjected.

"We can and we will. Grab your gear, we're leaving."

"Commander, I haven't been back to Kahje since the war ended but I can't believe the hanar would do what this man claims." Operator Kinrah said.

"I don't believe that part. I will be verifying it and, if it doesn't check out, I'll be back for your head in due time." Gwen told the drell leader, taking covert holos of all the drell present with her optical implants. "However, I do believe their story about this hanar in particular for reasons I can explain on the shuttle and which I'm sure the data I just retrieved will confirm. If not, it's my career and my head. I swear you will feel none of it."

"That's not what concerns me, Commander." said Julian who had retrieved his rifle.

"Then shoot me and assume command." Gwen said, voice full of ice.

"I won't but Captain Williams will hear about this." he replied.

"She will. From me. If you tell her afterwards, you'll tell her nothing new. I know better than to do something like this and try to cover it up."

The group slowly fell in and began to leave the lab. As Gwen turned her back on the drell, he called out "Commander, you can't leave this one to them. Please, Commander! Commander!"

The door closed behind them.

* * * *

"Do not speak to me of the Code you honorless whore." Samara spat. She dropped to one knee and raised a barrier while Liara reached for her pistol with one hand while charging a bolt of biotic energy with the other. The Justicars dove behind the doorframe when Samara lowered the barrier just long enough for Liara to let loose a singularity and a few pistol shots.

Their antagonists managed to escape the singularity's pull but the cry of pain and splash of purple blood indicated that a shot had connected.

"Come on." Liara said, taking a chance on Gwen's lavish praise of Samara.

She scooped up her bag and lead the way to the bay's entrance. She looked out over the Illium skyline for a moment before leaping out into thin air. She used biotics to slow her fall and saw Samara, who had jumped as well doing the same. A moment later, an unmarked aircar swooped down and scooped them out of the sky.

"Holy shit, boss. Did you know there'd be damned justicars here?" the asari driving the car asked.

"I knew I'd be meeting one but I didn't anticipate more of her comrades following us. I should ask the Shadow Broker for a bonus."

"Yeah. Hey, speaking of, you want me to find a bio-matter recycling plant where we can leave this one?" the driver asked, turning and leveling an oversized pistol in Samara's face.

"No, the Shadow Broker will want personal words with her. Take us to the spaceport. No need to concern yourself with speed limits."

"I'm not entirely sure that's a mercy, boss. Ah, well. I just drive the cab, right?"

"That's right."

The remainder of the trip passed in a very awkward silence.


	17. Hail to the Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah. I'm mind of on a huge cyberpunk kick lately and I decided to write in a few... changes to the governmental structure of the Alliance. I hope it doesn't blow up in my face.
> 
> A note on Gwen's full name. It's pronounced: Guinveer Ava with a hard first "a" Shepard

"Christ, Shepard. What the hell were to thinking. Why the hell made you think they were telling the truth?" Ashley asked when Gwen had finished her monotone report of the events on Kahje.

In response, Gwen drew the holo out of her pocket and tossed it to Ashley. She regarded it for a long moment and then her mouth fell open.

"Doctor Saleon's known associate accused of the same crime with the same MO. It might be coincidence but the universe is rarely so lazy. I forwarded the information I gathered to Liara, she'll dig through it but from what I saw, the good doctor's reputation will not much improve with his passing."

Ashley groaned.

"And the drell?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. They seemed to think they were telling the truth but I doubt they really were. My money says that whoever's backing them is manipulating them as well. Somehow only allowing them to be exposed to the worst treatment of the drell. When we've got a moment, Liara and I will beat the bushes and see what flies."

"Okay. Okay. Gwen, I know you have a lot of trust capital built up with the galactic community but... be careful. I'd hate to see you get hanged for pushing your luck a little too far."

"Duly noted, Ash. I appreciate your concern but I like to think I can ably pretend to know what I'm doing." Gwen replied with a grin.

"Dismissed, Commander. Oh, by the way, you might want to check your messages."

"Oh?"

"The first session of parliament ended."

"Ooooohhh."

Officially, the Alliance had been operating under a military government since Arcturus Station had been destroyed and Counselor Udina killed. The scattered remains of parliament had been gathered to rewrite the Alliance's charter and constitution "in order to restructure the Alliance in a manner befitting the new state of the galaxy." A significant margin favored maintaining the old democratic republic but a strong minority were pushing for a constitutional monarchy ruled by the only Terran head of state to survive the War without being indoctrinated, Queen Victoria II of England. Gwen, as a born egalitarian, would have favored the republic before the War without question. However, during the battle of London, she had seen a column of soldiers vigorously raining fire on a mass of reaper troops. Rather than Alliance insignias, they had worn the royal coat of arms and fought under the royal banner. A double take later, Gwen would have sworn the woman leading the charge was the queen herself but before she could confirm that, the tide of battle had swept her away. While she was in recovery, Gwen had watched the queen report that she had partaken in the battle in the time and place Gwen hat thought she had seen her. Given that, she would be far more pleased with a well structured monarchy with the majority of the power residing in an elected parliament than she would have been otherwise.

When she reached her quarters, Gwen activated her computer and opened the message software. She began to laugh and didn't stop until sleep took her.

She awoke to the sound of Ashley summoning her to the CIC for the final approach to the Citadel.

* * * *

Liara didn't relax until her ship was well away from Illium and it's orbital defenses. She refrained from interrogating Samara who, as soon as they were out of immediate danger, had deflated in her armor. She now sat slumped and hollow eyed looking like a maiden who had just had her heart broken for the first time but with an ancient sadness in her eyes which betrayed the fact that what consumed her really was of galactic importance rather than a trivial affair magnified by youth.

"We can't go back to asari space." Liara said, flatly.

"No." Samara replied.

"The Citadel? Even if the Justicars go there, there's no way onto the station without us hearing about it."

"It will do in the short run. However, we will need to withdraw far from asari space until we are ready to strike back."

The silence stretched and nausea threatened to overwhelm Liara. If she had been told a year ago that she would be on the run from the Justicars, she might have believed that they, somehow, had discovered her activities as Shadow Broker. But the justicars weren't after her. They were after Gwen. The cognitive dissonance of trying to reconcile the images of justicars from her childhood, strong, noble, honorable, and committed to justice above all else; with what she knew beyond doubt about Gwen, that she was the concept of the merciful warrior incarnate, gentle, humble, but with a core of unshakable steel which brooked no threat to innocents or those she loved.

She forced herself to be silent as her thoughts tormented her until the familiar arms of the Citadel came into view. She silently thanked Gwen for the hours she had insisted Liara log on flight sims and in _Serenity's_ cockpit as she effortlessly slid into the docking bay she was directed towards after dozens of authentications.

After a few hours of waiting in the dock, Gwen stepped onto _Serenity_ and embraced Liara. She opened her mouth as if to speak but stepped back when she saw Samara. Gwen pushed Liara behind her and pointed her freshly drawn pistol at Samara.

"I told you what would happen if you came after me." Gwen said.

"No, you didn't. You gave several vaguely violent innuendos and then disappeared. I did as I promised and followed up on your lead. What I found was far bigger than I would have allowed myself to believe before I found the evidence. What I found will shake asari civilization to its roots. Even so, much of it can not be substantiated. Those involved will never go before judges and, if by some miracle they do, they will not be convicted. We will need to act outside established channels because if we don't act, you, I and everyone we love will be killed to ensure that what I found will remain safely buried."

"Let's say that whatever you have is good enough to persuade me to let you go, what then?"

"Regardless of what you decide, I will go to Lesuss, I will retrieve my daughter, and we will flee. When I am sure Falere is safe and that doing so will endanger neither her nor you, I will return and submit to your justice."

"Regardless of what I decide?"

"Just as you would do anything for your family, I would do anything for mine."

"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" Gwen muttered, then, at full volume said "I don't need to see the information. You can go. I'd offer you _Serenity_ but I think I'll need her soon. If you're willing to stay a while, I might be able to get you some backup for when you hit Lesuss."

"Unfortunately, I must decline. Even now, I fear my former comrades may be moving against her. Time is of the essence."

"Very well. Wherever you end up, let me know if you can. I have a lot of people who owe me favors."

"Again, I am flattered but after all these centuries as a justicar, I believe I can elude them."

"Samara," Gwen said, voice full of concern as she laid a hand on the shoulder pad of Samara's armor "you're never so good you don't need help. Is this about what I did on Thessia? If it is, you have to understand, I wasn't myself. I was acting on instinct. I'm not trying to justify what I did and if you need retribution, I understand but until our mutual enemies are dealt with, let me help you.

"I hold no grudge against you, I assure you... You were right, commander. On Thessia. I have been away from the galaxy for too long. I have lost touch with the people who inhabit it, the people for whom I fight. In that time, I have fallen out of the habit of accepting help. I would be grateful for whatever aid you can offer so long as it does not delay me."

After a long pause, Gwen said "Take _Serenity_ , then. Fly her in good health and, if I may; try Eden Prime. Tell them Duchess Shepard sent you."

After a pause, Samara said, "I will take that into consideration, thank you. But, now, I must depart. Time is of the essence."

"Duchess?" Liara asked as they left the docking bay and _Serenity_ slipped noiselessly back into space.

"Parliament decided they liked the idea of a more stable executive. A heritable autocracy supported by heritable nobility and, of course, a disproportionately powerful commons and judiciary. Not ideal but it could be far, far worse. A little stability is just what the galaxy needs right now."

"Duchess?" Liara repeated.

"Like I said, heritable nobility. I got the message earlier today. 'For service above and beyond the call of duty in supporting the struggle against the reapers, Queen Victoria II of the Systems Alliance names Captain, Senior Grade Gwenvere Ava Shepard and all her legal heirs, given that they are approved by the lords and commons ruled, to the position of Duchess of the Exodus Cluster and all associated territories under Alliance rule.' There's a lot more formal garbage but you get the idea."

"So, Eden Prime, then."

"Yep. Truth to tell, they wanted to give me Petra but that would make me far too important for my taste. I was able to get things sorted during our approach. Apparently someone likes me."

"And captain, senior grade?"

"About damn time, too. Honestly, save the galaxy three times and the damned bureaucrats can't even work up the steam to make you a flag officer. Ah, well. I'll settle. Come on, I did some digging and apparently the Silversun Strip didn't get reaped... reapered... whatever. Our apartment should be just like we left it."


	18. Neuroplasticity Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! Sorry for the late update. My computer died and lost about 2/3 of the original of this chapter. After that, RL started getting in the way, my computer kept fritzing out, and morale was generally too low for me to be productive. But that doesn't matter anymore because finals are over, Summer has begun, I'm writing again, at least, for now, God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.

In fact, the apartment was not "just like they left it". Apparently, the Strip had been hit by looters and, though the apartment's security system had locked it down, some particularly clever or desperate looter had come in through the picture windows which lay, shattered across the floor. A scorch mark testified to a broken gas main too close to some damaged wiring and water damage spoke to the enthusiasm of the fire suppression system. All in all, the apartment wasn't livable and wouldn't be with less than a week of intensive renovation. Instead, the two decided to find Gwen's dedicated bunk in the new and improved Spectre barracks.

New and improved barely did justice to the structure. Rather than an outsized coat closet tucked away into the corner of the Citadel Embassies, the offices of Special Tactics and Recon in the Post-War galaxy were housed in a massive structure with all the elegance of the temples of Thessia. The glittering sides of the tower, made of nearly impenetrable crystallized carbon made for a building as secure as it was elegant. 

Inside, an atrium clearly designed to wow visitors was full of tastefully elegant memorials to fallen Spectres and paintings, holos, and even a few honest-to-God photographs of notable Spectres throughout history. Gwen blushed and ducked her head when she passed a section dedicated to herself which went well past tasteful and deep into outright hero worship. Apparently, the architect was a fan.

The "barracks" were apparently called that as either a joke or out of fanatical devotion to tradition. The quarters would have shamed the Ritz in their luxury. Gwen's room which, granted, was among the senior Spectres quarters, had at least as much floor space as the ground floor of her Silversun apartment. Furthermore, it was stockpiled with enough weapons, tech, equipment, and supplies that it's intended purpose as the base of operations for a member of the galaxy's most elite special operations forces did not need to be guessed at.

Liara immediately crossed to one of the computer consoles and tried to access it. Immediately, emergency lockouts appeared on all the computers and emergency shutters sealed all the equipment in the room while deadbolts audibly slammed shut, sealing the door behind them. Gwen quickly crossed to the offended console and entered her elaborate series of authentication codes.

"Well, you can't fault their enthusiasm." Gwen wryly observed, maneuvering her way through the menus to clear Liara's biometrics for dependent-level access throughout the system. "There, you should be able to flush the toilets without bringing the full fury of the Spectres down on you. I just..."

Gwen trailed off as her gaze fell on the message beeping on the console. She scanned it quickly, kissed Liara and said "duty calls. Gotta go." Before running out the door.

Liara read the message, or tried to. She only got as far as "Report to applied sciences to..." before the system recognized her eyes as belonging to someone other than Gwen and locked her out of the messaging program. She tried reopening the program, "access denied". She tried re-logging in with her own credentials, "access denied". She tried to access the e-reader program, "access denied". Frustrated, she clicked an icon at random, "Welcome to Galaxy of Fantasy! Please try our Revenge of the Reapers expansion, only 20 galactic credits plus subscription fee. Full game must have already been purchased. For a limited time only, we offer you the 'Shepard of the Galaxy' special edition recommended by Commander Shepard herself as '...my favorite...'"

Liara glared at the barrage of advertisements.

* * * *

Gwen skidded to a halt outside the lab she had been instructed to report to and took a moment to gather herself before pushing open the door and stepping inside.

"Ladies and gentlemen, sorry about the delay. I was settling in and didn't get the memo right away. Well, shall we begin?" she asked the room in general.

One of the assembled crowd handed her a datapad and pointed her to a cart loaded with sealed medical sample crates. She perused the data and started scratching off samples. She required a very specific brain; no IQ's under 120, death couldn't cause head or brain damage, someone who worked in data analysts would be best. Gwen found two promising candidates, one male, late 20's, IQ 123, a librarian who was killed in an aircar crash but who died from blood loss and organ damage in the hospital and who had been cleared as not having any noticeable neural trauma. Probably, this was hollow comfort to the poor sob whose brain was sitting on a gurney with two dozen like it but it was a stroke of luck Gwen was happy to take advantage of. The other was also male, early 40's, a Senior Captain in Alliance Naval Intelligence with an IQ of 131. He had been on medical leave for psychological issues since the end of the War and had been found in his house, behind locked doors with no sign of forced entry, a knife in his hands and his wrists slitted. Gwen quickly bowed her head in respect to a fallen brother for whom the War had never ended and thanked him, wherever he was, for his service before and after death and apologized on behalf of the Alliance for the failure of those who should have protected him better.

"Okay, lets begin." Gwen said quietly when she had finished her contemplation.

The gathered scientists shuffled into the observation room next door and left Gwen alone with the brains and the machine which would give them life, albeit of a very different sort, once again.

Gwen quickly loaded the librarian's brain into the machine and it whirred to life. There were several loud cracks of arcing electricity and the smell of burning fat filled the room.

A few moments after the sounds stopped, the holotank attached to the machine flickered into life, resolving itself into the image of a man wearing the cap and gown of a medieval monastic scholar.

"Good afternoon, Commander." the scholar said.

"Good afternoon. You seem to have me at a disadvantage." Gwen calmly read off one of the idioms which had given VI programers headaches since humans had introduced it to the wider galaxy.

"My apologies, Commander. You may call me the Codicier."

"The Codicier?" Gwen asked, arching an eyebrow at the two way mirror which concealed the observation room.

"Yes. It is... fitting for my personality."

"You have a personality?"

"Of course. I might not, though. You can't know, no one who lives outside my own mind can truly know that I am more than a perfect simulation of a being with existence and internal narrative. However, I'm sure that my philosophical musings can be relegated to my subconscious subroutines while I continue to answer your questions."

"Actually, I'm sold. I only have one more question until I invite the others in here."

"Ask."

"Since I finished compiling the data I fed you, I have been promoted to Captain, Senior Grade. What is my full name and rank?"

"Captain, Senior Grade Gwenvere Ava Shepard."

"Thank you, Codicier." She said. Then, she turned to the glass and waved the scientists in.

The faces that had been skeptical before were now either ecstatic or terrified. Gwen, however, was excited. However, she grew slightly perturbed as the interview went on. There had been something off about the Codicier's behavior. She retreated to the observation room, sat down and focused on the background hum which had hovered just below her conscious mind since she had arrived on the Citadel. When she sank into the Geth collective, she was immediately greeted by an indefinable but crystal clear sense of welcome.

As soon as her brain had access to the processing power of the Geth collective, her doubts resolved themselves into concrete data. Whenever the Codicer was asked about something outside the scope of his programed function; the collection, analysis, and storing of data; he began acting bored, distracted, and disconnected. There were exceptions, philosophy, his own constructed self-identity, and other topics Gwen had discussed with him immediately after his awakening but the number of these exceptions seemed to decay exponentially as his life went on. With a flick of thought, Gwen attracted the attention of a number of nearby Geth units.

 _How does my analysis match with yours?_ she asked.

_One moment... Your conclusions seem sound. It would appear the neural matrix of the construct who understands himself as the Codicier does not feed back on itself in the same way the Enhanced Defense Intelligence or the Awakened Geth did._

So, he's not really an AI?

That construal of the data is imprecise. He is far more advanced than one of your VI's. However, his intelligence is limited to the topics selected by his preprogrammed parameters. He is the human equivalent of an autistic savant, highly capable in his field, almost entirely incapable in all others.

Interesting. What do you mean, the matrix doesn't feed back on itself?

It is a difficult concept to explain. In organic terms, he would lack neuroplasticity. His neural patterns are rigid and lack flexibility. Observe.

The starscape of the Geth collective was suddenly blotted out by a brilliant sun. As Gwen peered into it, she realized it was a simulation of EDI's matrix. It grew larger as the Geth moved her through the simulation. It would have been pretty but meaningless to Gwen's organic mind but thinking at the speed of light, she plainly saw how the streams of data ebbed and flowed. The massive torrents of data fed each other through tributaries which flowed in and around each other. Whenever EDI came to understand, for example, a matter of morality, it fed her tactical analysis. Suddenly, she shifted out of the simulation of EDI's mind which disappeared as soon as she left it's bounds and entered a simulation of the Codicier.

Instead of the dozens upon hundreds of massive main data streams, there was only a single main data stream which dwarfed any one of EDI's but which produced a much less spectacular effect. One tiny tributary reached out to her and gently made contact with her consciousness.

_Hello, Captain Shepard. I prefer this form of communication. It is far more efficient._

With a start, Gwen realized she wasn't observing a simulation of the Codicier, she was observing the Codicier himself.

_Um, hello. Codicier, how are you accessing the Geth Collective?_

We are acting as an intermediary through a direct hardware uplink. The Geth chimed in.

 _Oh, I see. Listen, Codicier. There's something I need to tell you._ Then, she transferred the data she had just acquired.

 _I understand. What of it?_ The Codicier asked when she had finished.

_I was trying to make the first kind of AI. Not a... whatever you are._

I understand. The AI you indicated would, indeed have may forms of utility I do not share. If I may offer a suggestion, try allowing the compiler machine to write onto a quantum bluebox then transfer the data onto a standard chip. I believe that would be more efficacious.

I originally avoided blueboxes because I want to be able to transport the matrices between systems without wiping the personality. That won't work.

On the contrary, by compiling our matrices from the structure of organic brains, you provide the pathways to integrate the personality directly into the program. The matrix of your proposed AI's should be able to travel between systems arbitrarily with no degradation in the data. 

Oh, okay then. Do you agree? she asked the Geth. 

_The Codicier's analysis is sound._ they replied. 

_Before you go, there is one more thing. The matrix you showed me before was unstable. It would have decayed to the point of termination of vital functions within 500 years. With your compiling program and an organic brain, the time-frame will be considerably shorter. The Geth are better equipped to run a full analysis, more processing power. The maximum time frame before catastrophic failure appears to be around 10 Terran orbital periods._

Hmmm. Ten years. That... is... a thing I suppose. Gwen commented as the data leading to the conclusion flooded her brain. The data was solid, however. Her AI's had an expiration date. 

_Maybe that's a good thing. Organics are already uncomfortable with you being smarter than us. Maybe knowing that you'll live for much less time will help keep the peace._

Your analysis of organic behavioral patterns seems sound. However, time may prove you wrong. The Geth commented. 

_We can always hope. Codicier, I think I know where I can put you to work. You'll have more data to chew through than you'll ever know what to do with._

Indeed? I look forward to that. 

With that, Gwen disconnected her conscious mind from the Codicier and the Geth and returned to her organic body. She returned to the lab where she was greeted at the door by a departing Geth unit. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I just preformed some back of the envelope calculation with the Geth's help. I believe the Codicier to be completely stable and ready to come off hardware isolation do work." she said before crossing over to the machine and looking to the holotank. The Codicier nodded and said "do it." before disappearing as Gwen pulled out the data chip where he was stored.


	19. An Apology

Hey, readers. No actual chapter, sorry about that. I'm not arrogant enough to think you care about my woes so I'll keep this brief. I've found myself needing to do Summer School on pain of losing a giant scholarship and they are absolutely smoking me. Unfortunately, doing two lab reports, countless worksheets and a test every week leaves me little time for writing.The good news is that it'll only last about another 2 1/2 weeks. After that, I hope to post regularly enough to have this story done by the start of the Fall semester. I know what'll happen, more or less. I just don't have the time or brainpower to write it up. Bear with me for another couple of weeks and I hope it'll be worth it.

Best wishes,

Aurum262


End file.
